This car,’ says Gilles Boussac, Peugeot’s chief of product planning, ‘replaces the 205 GTI spirit, although with a different silhouette. And I know you in the UK are very keen on the idea of a dynamic Peugeot.’

But this car is a concept car, a designer’s fantasy distorting the look of the 308 hatchback as far as it is possible to go without losing the reference point. Isn’t it? Not so. Design vice-chief Keith Ryder says it has been created as a production-feasible car that just needs a convincing business case. That I’m about to drive it suggests the desire to make it is there.