{"id":1834269,"date":"2026-03-19T09:38:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1834269"},"modified":"2026-03-19T09:38:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:38:39","slug":"its-a-case-of-innovate-or-die-says-peugeot-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1834269","title":{"rendered":"It’s a case of innovate or die, says Peugeot boss"},"content":{"rendered":"
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{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”Article”,”image”:”https:\/\/car-images.bauersecure.com\/wp-images\/250919\/alain_favey_1.png”,”mainEntityOfPage”:{“@type”:”WebPage”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.carmagazine.co.uk\/car-news\/industry-news\/peugeot\/alain-favey\/”},”url”:”https:\/\/www.carmagazine.co.uk\/car-news\/industry-news\/peugeot\/alain-favey\/”,”author”:{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Colin Overland”,”description”:”Colin Overland is Managing Editor of CAR. That, among other things, involves sub-editing the magazine; liasing with the digital team to make CARu2019s non-print versions happen; making sure the words people and the visuals people are talking to each other; keeping an eye on the global CAR family; and being the link between the editorial team and other departments. He also edited the Electric Cars 2022 bookazine.u00A0u00A0nColin first worked on CAR in 2003, but has also been editor of the 4Car website and RiDE magazine, and has stints at Autocar, Motor Cycle News and Classic Bike on his CV.u00A0u00A0nHeu2019s currently saving up to buy a Hyundai Matrix.u00A0nAutomotive journalistic heroes: Richard Williams, Russell Bulgin, Henry Manney, Peter Egan, Ben Oliver, Jamie Kitman, Mark Walton, Philip Llewellin, Charles Fox, Paul Horrell, Brock Yates, Stephen Bayleyu2026 itu2019s no coincidence that a lot of those have written for CAR (or still do).”,”image”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https:\/\/car-assets.bauersecure.com\/wp-images\/14232\/colinoverland.jpeg”,”caption”:”Colin Overland”},”url”:”https:\/\/www.carmagazine.co.uk\/author\/colin-overland\/”},”dateModified”:”2026-03-19T09:38:39+00:00″,”datePublished”:”2026-03-19T09:38:39+00:00″,”headline”:”Itu0027s a case of innovate or die, says Peugeot boss”,”publisher”:{“@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”Bauer Media”,”brand”:{“@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”Car Magazine”},”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https:\/\/car-assets.bauersecure.com\/images\/logos\/car.200×88.png”}}}<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt’s a case of innovate or die, says Peugeot boss<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\tBy Colin Overland<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublished: Today 09:38
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\t\"It's<\/p>\n

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Alain Favey: excited about the future<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t View all Peugeot Reviews<\/span>
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\u25ba CAR interviews Peugeot boss, Alain Favey
\u25ba It\u2019s a case of innovate, or die
\u25ba Starts with Polygon and new e-208 GTI<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tough times in the car market call for innovation and bravery, not a retreat into caution. So says Alain Favey, Peugeot CEO. Within his first year in the job, he\u2019s unveiled a striking new GTI-badged electric hatchback<\/a> and a concept car with steer-by-wire tech<\/a> that will go into production with the next-generation of the 208 and 2008.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to CAR, he said: \u2018In this struggle to survive that everybody is sharing at the moment, the way out for a brand like Peugeot is being innovative. There is no future for a brand in Europe if it doesn\u2019t keep innovating \u2013 because others will do it better or quicker.<\/p>\n

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\u2018If we continue to bring innovation that others don\u2019t do, we\u2019re really standing out from the crowd and you have a relevance for many years to come.\u2019<\/p>\n

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For him that\u2019s embodied in the Polygon concept car (which we\u2019ve driven<\/a>, below), with a \u2018hypersquare\u2019 steering wheel that uses software, not physical connections, to translate driver inputs to the front wheels. When it goes into production, it will be the first use of such technology in a mainstream car from a mass manufacturer. For Favey it\u2019s the next step on from the i-Cockpit innovations of the last few years.<\/p>\n

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\u2018My job today is to design the Peugeots of the future. What is the future of Peugeot? How do I make sure Peugeots remain modern in a market that is changing as new products come in from everywhere all the time? We do that by making sure Peugeot remains modern, keeps standing out from the competition, and we do that by always reinventing the future.\u2019<\/p>\n

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So how does the return of the GTI badge, due soon on an electric hot hatch based on the current-generation E-208, fit into that?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not, insists Favey, retro thinking. \u2018We are not trying to recreate glorious models of the past. But we can get from our past maybe some inspiration about how we make a successful future.<\/p>\n

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\u2018GTI is an opportunity to innovate \u2013 clearly we have never done an electric GTI in the past. At the same time it is bringing the GTI badge to a new level of fun, to a level we did not have when we had the last GTI.<\/p>\n

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\u2018I think we manage with new technology to bring the GTI feeling to another level with very modern solutions.\u2019<\/p>\n

He said that when the E-208 GTI was shown at Le Mans last summer, he was amazed by the youth and enthusiasm of the drivers who brought their classic 205 GTIs along for a parade lap; many were in their thirties, and deeply knowledgable about Peugeot\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are touching with the GTI a very young target group, one that is extremely demanding.\u2019<\/p>\n

As well as reaching new buyers, the GTI project was also energising Peugeot staff, he said. The same people were working on the GTI and the World Endurance Championship racers. \u2018The 208 GTI is developed by the same people. In the morning they work on the Le Mans car, in the afternoon they work on the 208 GTI. We transfer know-how about how to set up suspension, the whole feeling in the car. It\u2019s not a department of motorsport \u2013 it\u2019s literally the same engineers.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n