watch the RCZ – it must create a credibility template

Peugeot will be 200 years old in May. No other car company can trace its roots back so far, to the days before cars even existed. So in this bicentenary year, it has created a new version of its lion badge, sleek and shiny and bold.

With the rebranding razzamatazz come signs that Peugeot may return to at least some of the values that made driving enthusiasts once love its cars. evo has barely been able to summon up enthusiasm for a Peugeot since the demise of the 106 GTI, but in among the rousing talk by Peugeot president Jean-Marc Gales at the grand brand presentation were these words: ‘It will be a hard-hitting comeback on historic territory. Peugeot will be making Peugeots again.’ He went on to use phrases which promise much, such as describing how a car should flow and be in touch with the road.

The first production Peugeot to wear the new logo will be the RCZ coupe. Watch this car very closely, because it must create a credibility template. We are assured that it will be as entertaining and interactive as Peugeots used to be; we’ll find out in the middle of this year. The death of the GTI doesn’t mean no more hot hatches, either – expect the 207’s smaller, lighter replacement to spawn a fast model. ‘It will be a car in the same spirit as the 205,’ Gales promised us.

Meanwhile, the SR1 concept car, a sleek two-seater sports car with a removable hardtop, gives an idea of Peugeot’s future style direction. The shape is the work of Gilles Vidal, who designed the GT By Citroën concept car but who has now moved over the dividing wall in PSA’s Vélizy design centre to Peugeot. Sadly, the SR1 is not slated for production.

The outlook for driver-pleasing Peugeots, then, is one of cautious optimism. But there’s a way to go before the reputation is rebuilt, a reputation once acknowledged by Peugeot’s rivals as much as by journalists, as Ford chassis chief Joe Bakaj revealed over dinner following the revealing of the latest Focus.

‘Yes, Peugeot lost the plot,’ he said. ‘It was deemed to be the state of the art back in the days of the 306 and 406. It used to make its own dampers – it doesn’t now – and to much finer tolerances than normal suppliers. The tolerance is typically plus or minus ten per cent, and Ford now pays more money to get them plus or minus five per cent. Anyway, Ford adapted Peugeot dampers to try in the Mondeo, and it was night and day. But we couldn’t get suppliers to match Peugeot quality.’

Peugeot knows what it has to do. Whether it will do it will be fascinating to watch.