Noble Sisters: Peugeot 205

Last week, we introduced the topic of sporty or limited edition cars derived from mass-market models, analyzing the Morris MINI Cooper S, a small English car that has become highly sought after by collectors over the years. Today, we shift to France to explore a car that made Peugeot's fortune for 15 years, from 1983 to 1998, selling over 5.2 million units worldwide: the Peugeot 205. Like the MINI, it was motorsport, especially rally racing, that turned this popular vehicle into one of the most coveted sports cars by enthusiasts. It was a clever strategy for model positioning: at the same time as the 1983 Paris Motor Show debut of the street version, Peugeot launched a motorsport program in the World Rally Championship’s Group B with the 205 Turbo 16, a beast boasting over 550hp and weighing less than 1000kg. The car proved to be a real powerhouse, winning the Championship in 1984 and 1986, and even the Paris-Dakar rally.