News Source: topspeed.com

The Peugeot 208 GTi  is a sports hatchback  that doesn’t get nearly the same amount of love as it should. The standard 208 GTi may not excite people’s senses that much, but Peugeot  is confident that the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition will do just that.

Developed to celebrate the 205 GTi’s 30th anniversary, the special edition 208 GTi channels the sportiness of the standard version of the model and ups the ante in the form of an upgraded style and improved performance. Those two elements combine to create a visually appealing package that gives the Peugeot hatch a sportier  and more aggressive appeal that isn’t usually reserved for a car of this stature.

Peugeot is presenting the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed  before making another appearance at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. Sales of the model are expected to commence this November 2014, giving customers enough time to learn more about Peugeot’s newest special edition model.

It’s hard not to like what Peugeot did to improve the aesthetics of the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition. Matte black always gets us excited and this model is proof of that. Pretty much the entire body has been wrapped in the dark shade, creating an exciting and stealthy look that’s a far departure from what you’d expect on a standard 208.

An all-matte black finish would have been a nice look, but we can’t fault Peugeot for adding a new lacquered-red finish on the rear, creating a sliced two-tone finish that evokes images of some of its recent concepts, including the 308 R and the Exalt. We didn’t think Peugeot would do something like this to a production model, but we’re happy to have been proven wrong because the design looks pretty good.

Outside of its color presentation, the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition also features a number of aerodynamic components, including matte-black side skirts, wheel-arch extensions, a window weather strip, and a set of 18-inch wheels with large red brake calipers.

Finally, Peugeot decided to lower the car’s suspension by 10 mm (0.39 inches) while also widening the track by 22 mm (0.87 inches) at the front and 16 mm (0.63 inches) at the rear. All of this was done with the intent of creating a sportier look for the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition.

The interior changes are mostly of the cosmetic variety, which isn’t that surprising. Particularly impressive was the company’s stylistic treatment of the same black and red colors of the exterior. The interior is predominantly black with plenty of red splashes serving as an ideal complement.

Peugeot also added front bucket seats, which were specially developed by Peuguot Sport. These seats, like the rest of the materials on the interior, were trimmed in fancy materials. In this case, Alcantara was predominantly used and accompanied by black TEP with red stitching and a black-dotted mesh pattern with its own red highlights.

Rounding out the interior features of the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition is a numbered plate bearing a ‘208 GTi 30th’ insignia. You can find this plate just above the courtesy lamp.

The Peugeot 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition comes with an extra dose of juice, something the automaker deemed important to do so it can differentiate the model on a performance level from the standard 208. The added numbers won’t wow you — just eight horsepower and 18 pound-feet of torque — but anytime you can get 205 ponies and 221 pound-feet of torque from a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine, you know that you’ve got something special.

With those new figures, the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition is now capable of hitting 60 mph in just 6.5 seconds, 0.5 seconds faster than the standard 208 GTi. Likewise, we expect top speed to improve to about 145 mph from the standard version’s 140-mph top speed. Peugeot has given no indication on how much it plans to sell the 208 GTi 30th Anniversary Edition, but considering that the standard 208 GTi retails for £18,900 ($32,300 as of 6/27/2014), it’s reasonable to at least expect the special edition model to fetch around £22,000 ($37,500 as of 6/27/2014).