Peugeot RCZ confirmed

Peugeot has confirmed that the Peugeot RCZ will be at Frankfurt in September

It was only last month that we had spy shots of the Peugeot 308 RCZ, and we speculated then that it was starting to look as if the RCZ would finally see the light of day, two years after it was first shown as a concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007.

Peugeot has announced that the Peugeot RCZ (they’re not bothering with the ‘308’ bit) will finally hit the roads in Spring 2010. It took a while. Which should mean the RCZ is well and truly sorted, or will it just mean it’s out of date before it even goes on sale?

The RCZ – which is actually the first Peugeot not to use the zero or double zero in its name – is a clear indication of the changing direction of PSA, with Peugeot heading in to more ‘Sporty’ territory and Citroen heading upmarket with the DS Range.

A two door, two seater coupe, the Peugeot RCZ does look remarkably similar to the old Audi TT. But Audi has moved on from their hairdressers TT and now offers a proper sporty coupe in the new version (particularly the TT-RS), but that probably leaves room for a more competitively priced coupe to succeed. Will that be the RCZ. Hard to say. French coupes have never been runaway successes, but the RCZ has a chance.

Peugeot aren’t releasing details of the powerplants for the RCZ, but it seems likely, as the RCZ is based on the same platform as the C4 and the 308, that it will offer a couple of 1.6 litre turbos – a 150bhp and a 220bhp – as well as an oil-burner of some description.

Peugeot are playing tease with pictures of the RCZ, so we don’t get a proper view. They’re keeping their powder dry for the official launch at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but pictures are bound to turn up before then.

Rumoured to be starting at around £20k, the Peugeot RCZ could well pick up enough buyers to make it a success. Depends how it drives. though.