Peugeot boss says the 805bhp e-T16 hyper-hatch is technically feasible for production as soon as next year

Peugeot is seriously considering putting its dramatic e-T16 concept into production, with chief executive Alain Favey saying the 805bhp electric hatchback could be built as soon as next year. The car was unveiled at the Paris motor show as a preview of the next-generation e-208, but its dual-motor powertrain and wide-arched bodywork, inspired by the 1980s 205 T16 homologation special, led many to assume it was pure concept-car theatre.

Favey told Autocar that the car is underpinned by Stellantis's new STLA platform and shares elements with the upcoming e-208, making it viable as shown. "We can make it. The car is based on STLA One. We have a lot of elements from the new e-208. We can make it as it is, as you see it here. We can make this car next year. Let's see," he said.

The key argument for feasibility is the platform. Stellantis's STLA One architecture underpins the concept, and Peugeot Sport has been involved in its development, which Favey cited as evidence that the technical specification is more than a headline grab. "[805bhp], this and that and the other, they are real facts," he said. "If we make this car, we can make it. That's the performance we can get to."

A halo car in the Renault 5 Turbo 3E mould

If it reaches production, the e-T16 would be a low-volume, high-cost flagship for the brand, in the same spirit as the Renault 5 Turbo 3E. Favey did not discuss pricing, but the £140,000 to £220,000 figures mooted for the Renault indicate the sort of money Peugeot could ask for the four-wheel-drive hyper-hatch.

That pricing territory would be new ground for Peugeot, whose current range tops out well below such figures. It would also sit alongside a broader push upmarket: Favey said the brand wants to grow annual sales from 1.1 million to 1.5 million cars, targeting profitable growth rather than volume at any cost.

The RCZ coupé is a longer wait

A second concept shown alongside the e-T16, the RCZ coupé, is further from reality. Its low-slung proportions cannot be achieved with Peugeot's current electric platforms, and the design depends on thin, energy-dense solid-state batteries that can charge in roughly the time it takes to refuel a petrol car. Those cells are not yet on the market.

"That's a wish list. That's what we need, and even if it's five years or six years, that's what we need one day," Favey said, drawing a clear line between the two projects: the e-T16 is buildable now, the RCZ is not.

Moving upmarket, not down

Favey also ruled out a return to the entry-level city car segment, saying Peugeot has no plan to compete with value-led brands on price, pointing to the new Citroën 2CV as the kind of car rivals do well. Instead, the brand will chase higher margins through design and technology.

He framed this as a deliberate response to Chinese manufacturers, who he said compete heavily on price. "We know we're not going to win the war on pricing. That's clear for millions of reasons... But we are actually winning the commercial war. Being clear on design, on technology, on innovation, that's where we are at home, with sporty cars," he said.

Favey also made an appeal to European buyers to consider the provenance of the cars they purchase, arguing that supporting European brands sustains the continent's economy and employment.

Jaguar has defended its decision to scrap every car it makes, including the already electric I-Pace, arguing the old business model was neither profitable nor growing. Managing director Rawdon Glover told Evo and Drive that competing with BMW, Mercedes and Audi in the premium-volume segment had become unsustainable, leaving a full reset as the only option.

The brand has now cleared out the XE, XF and XJ saloons, the F-Type sports car and the E-Pace and F-Pace SUVs to make way for the Type 01, an electric grand tourer aimed at a much wealthier clientele. Jaguar says more than 50,000 people have registered interest in the car, and that 80 percent of them would be first-time Jaguar buyers.

Glover framed the cull as a survival decision rather than a stylistic one. "We had created some brilliant products, some were best in class, but the competitiveness in that sector was too much for Jaguar to cut through," he told Evo. "The former was never an option if Jaguar was to survive." In a separate conversation with Drive, he added that incremental brand management was no longer enough: "It really needed to be a big... step."

Good cars, bad numbers

The core problem, as Jaguar presents it, is that quality alone does not pay the bills. The brand built cars that won praise but never reached the volumes needed to sustain the business against the German trifecta's scale. Glover's argument is that a refresh of the existing range would have left Jaguar stuck in a segment where it could not compete on either scale or profitability.

That logic explains why even the I-Pace, the brand's first electric car, was retired alongside the combustion models. The new-era cars are intended to bear little resemblance to the old guard, in design as well as in positioning.

Fewer sales, higher prices

The replacement strategy is deliberately narrow: sell fewer vehicles at significantly higher prices, using distinctive design and exclusivity to stand out. The Type 01 grand tourer is the first evidence of that approach, and Jaguar has billed it as its most powerful road car ever.

The gamble is obvious. A smaller pool of buyers means every sale matters more, and the unconventional styling has already divided opinion. The Type 00 concept and the subsequent production car both attracted controversy, and the brand's rebranding campaign triggered a fierce online backlash. Jaguar is charging substantially more for cars aimed at a narrower audience, and it has not yet published pricing for the Type 01 or confirmed when it goes on sale.

A new audience, on paper

The interest figures are the strongest evidence Jaguar has that the bet can work. More than 50,000 people have expressed interest in the electric GT, and the company says 80 percent of potential buyers are new to the brand. That tracks with a projection Glover made last year, when he estimated around 85 percent of customers would be buying a Jaguar for the first time.

The catch is that interest is not a commitment, and Jaguar itself concedes it is too early to say how many of those registrations will become orders. The Type 01 has to do more than turn heads if the death of the petrol range is to look justified in hindsight.