- After the hot hatchback craze originally took over back in the late 1970s and 80s, with the introduction of cars like the Mk1 Volkswagen Golf GTI and Peugeot 205 GTI, the genre’s popularity with a wide range of consumers has remained steadfast.
- Some have raised concern that these types of cars, which remain more city friendly and practical than their larger counterparts, would become a thing of the past in the EV future. However, EV launches last year and into 2025 have proven that this is anything but the case.
- The coming years are set to be a significant rebirth for the hot hatch sector, promising to bring an engaging driving experience into the electric era.
The hot hatchback returns for the EV era
In previous years, fast EVs were strictly a reserve of the premium car sector. Look back to before the turn of the 2020s, and your only relatively affordable option for a performance EV were offerings from Tesla. Times have changed, however, and models like the MG4 X POWER and CUPRA Born have bucked the trend – showing just how much performance you can get for your buck on a new electric car. This change has opened up a whole new target market to EV makers and dealers alike, who may have previously not considered an electric car.
Peugeot is yet another example of this trend. Its own GTI marque was all but dead after it killed the final model to carry the badge back in 2021. But, likely influenced after seeing the strong positive public reaction to hot hatch EVs like the Alpine A290 and future Renault 5 Turbo 3E, Peugeot’s new CEO recently confirmed that its electric 208 hatch is set to get a sportier GTI makeover ‘as soon as possible’. Volkswagen also plans to give its own GTI badge an all-electric transition by the end of the decade.
While Hyundai’s £65,000-plus IONIQ 5 N performance EV is hard to class as an affordable electric hot hatch, the manufacturer could join this more affordable price segment soon, too. It recently revealed a performance-focused concept car based on its budget Hyundai Inster, called the ‘Insteroid’. It hasn’t confirmed any production plans yet, but with other manufacturers evidently jumping on the trend, that could change.
With so many of these new types of electric cars coming onto the market, a whole new segment for the EV market is quickly being born. The popularity of the first hot hatchbacks of the 20th century were borne from their ability to combine the performance of a sports car into a compact, affordable package that could be used on a daily basis. These electric hot hatches of the future are no different, and offer even lower running costs for those able to charge at home – and offer zero-emission guilt-free enjoyment. With that, 2025 and 2026 is set to be an exciting year in the EV industry, even for devoted petrolheads.
