Who remembers the Peugeot 205 T16? I’d wager very few of you know it by name alone, but if you’ve spent time in rally games or diving deep into the rally footage from the 80s, it stands out. It’s one of the coolest hatches ever made, and it won plenty of gravel. To mark 40 years since its dominance and to show off its new feline design direction, Peugeot has built a mad concept that looks as good as its spec sheet.
Meet the E-T16 concept. A retro-futuristic styling concept with 600kW doing the driving work. The E-T16 is a fully electric concept that draws inspiration from the iconic rally car while also giving us a glimpse of the most over-the-top version of the upcoming E-208.
With three electric motors, one up front and two at the back, it delivers 600kW and a 0-100km/h time of 2.5 seconds. It keeps some rally heritage too, with a vertical handbrake to help with skids. The hardware backs up the looks, with plenty of new tech packed in, including the Hypersquare steering control first used in the Peugeot 9X8 hypercar that races in the World Endurance Championship. Peugeot says it’s steer-by-wire, but it’s tried and tested.
Rather boldly, Peugeot claims that the concept can run three flat-out laps around the Nürburgring, which totals just over 60km. That might not sound like much, but maintaining maximum tilt out of corners over that distance is impressive for an EV. It comes down to new ‘side cooling’ tech, where the battery cells are cooled through their sidewalls rather than just the base.
The design is a platform for the brand’s new design language, called Feline Future, which uses lighting to sharpen the brand’s identity. The three-claw headlight is a leading element, with illuminated horizontal bars framed by an illuminated Peugeot logo. This helps affirm the planted stance of the vehicle and emphasise strength, elegance and modernity.
It’s a stunning concept that ticks all the right boxes for an epic driving machine, steer-by-wire and electrification notwithstanding. But that’s the direction the world is heading, and it’s good to see a brand still willing to have fun with dedicated performance rather than just fitting massive motors. Reworking something as uniquely iconic as the 205 T16 is hard, but Peugeot’s definitely onto something here…
