As product manager for the Peugeot marque in the U.K. in the 1980s, I was responsible for writing the ‘Marketing Platform’* for the Peugeot 205 and then a separate platform for the 205GTi when that derivative was launched in 1984. The 205 GTi took Peugeot into a sector of the market in which, previously, it had not been active. This is not surprising because it was the launch of the Volkswagen GTI in 1976 and the Ford Escort XR3 in 1980 that had established the new “Hot Hatch” segment.
My ‘Marketing Platform’ compared the 205 GTi’s specification and characteristics against the competition, highlighting those features that showed the 205 GTi to have an advantage. The purpose of the platform was to act as an “aide memoir” for Peugeot’s U.K. sales team when talking to dealers about the company’s entrant into the “Hot Hatch” market.
Producing that platform, which was well received by the sales and marketing director, should have been the conclusion of my responsibilities regarding that car. However, soon after the launch of the 205 GTi I started receiving calls from people who had either bought one or who were contemplating buying one. Talking to these people emphasised to me just how different these customers where to those who bought Peugeot’s family or business orientated cars.
This realisation inspired me to write a separate paper* describing the nature of of these potential customers and what they were looking for in their “Hot Hatch” purchase. One of the results of this paper was for Peugeot Talbot UK to launch the Peugeot 205 GTi Owners Club administered by a contracted agency, De Brus Marketing Services of Warwick. Over the years the Club has transitioned into today’s Peugeot Sport Club. In the beginning the Peugeot 205 GTi O.C. was a purely U.K. initiative but it wasn’t long before similar clubs were established throughout Europe.
Very early in the life of the Club an annual national meeting of all club members and their cars was organised. This was called the Peugeot GTi 205 Owners Club National Convention. In the first few years this was held at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, Leicestershire. This annual gathering of club members has been a constant ever since, in recent years, now called the Peugeot Sport Club (PSC) Festival, it has been held at the super venue of the Bugatti Owners Club Prescott Hillclimb.
You can imagine how pleased I am to realise that the club I had a hand in launching in 1985 has grown to what it is today. All credit to those enthusiastic Peugeot car owners who, over the years, have rolled up their sleeves and taken on the responsibility of running the club.
So that is where I was on Sunday 6th July 2025. The purpose of my visit was to hand over the documents, referred to above *, to the Club’s archivist. While there, I couldn’t resist taking some photographs which I am pleased to share with you here. As soon as I got out of the car I was wrapped in the infectious atmosphere created by hundreds of enthusiastic owners of Peugeot performance cars.
GROUP PHOTOS
106 Rallye
205s/206s/207s/208s
208 RCZ
308 GTi
406 Coupe
407 SW
508 PSE
Looking forward to seeing Peugeot’s latest GTi at next year’s event –
Nick
This article and photographs contained within is subject to copyright and should not be republished in part or as a whole without permission from the author.
© carsceneinternational.com
