Hot hatch

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Peugeot 205 GTI
Peugeot 205 GTI

A hot hatch is an informal or slang term for a high-performance derivative of a three-door automobile. The term is relatively more popular in Europe because of the popularity of hatchback configuration. The United States also uses the term sport compacts. Vehicles of this class are typically based on a budget, family-oriented automobile, and equipped with improved suspension and a more powerful engine. Front mounted engines and front wheel drive is the most common powertrain layout.

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The design most often considered to have started the hot hatch genre is the 1977 Volkswagen Golf GTI, (although technically the first "true" hot hatch was the Simca 1100 dating from 1967/8). The original 1974 version of the Golf was in mass production at this point, and the addition of a 1.6 litre fuel injected engine, sharp handling, and sharper marketing found a huge market for small, practical cars that still had excellent performance.

The Golf GTI enjoyed a short run of unparalleled success, but by the early 1980s car manufacturers worldwide were racing to market with their own alternatives. Notable big-sellers in the early days were the Ford Escort XR3i and Vauxhall Astra GTE.

By the end of the 1980s the hot hatch had taken its place across Europe, and was pushing into other worldwide markets. The brief heyday of Group B rallying pushed the hot hatch genre to its limits, and small numbers of ultra-high performance variants were manufactured to comply with the rally rules. These enthusiasts vehicles represented a brief, extreme branch of the hot hatch, and included such notable vehicles as the Peugeot 205 T-16 and MG Metro 6R4.

Before the Volkswagen Rabbit (the North American version of the Golf) was introduced in GTI form in September 1982 as a 1983 model, sports versions of family hatchbacks were little more than cosmetic upgrades of the basic models, typified by magnesium wheels and cheesy decals. The introduction of the GTI in the U.S. and Canada quickly led the American and Japanese manufacturers to produce models worthy of competing with VW. As in Europe, the GTI found several direct competitors in North America. Ford offered the Escort GT, and its Lincoln-Mercury division offered the identical Mercury Lynx XR3. Chrysler offered the Dodge Omni GLH (which the Dodge division said stood for "Goes Like Hell") as well as a special version of the front-drive Dodge Charger hatchback; both were prepared by Carroll Shelby. (A more mannered equivalent to the Dodge Shelby Charger, the Plymouth Turismo Duster, was offered by Chrysler-Plymouth dealers.) General Motors offered a few sports version of its J-car hatchbacks, including the Chevrolet Cavalier Z24. After 1995, however, the J-chassis Pontiac Sunfire GT and Chevrolet Z24 were offered only as two-door coupés. Toyota offered the Corolla FX-16, and Honda introduced the Civic S (later called the Si when that model gained fuel injection). Hot hatches maintained some popularity in North America throughout the 1990's, even as most small cars were designed with trunks. The Honda Civic was the benchmark for Japanese hot hatches in America, but when the Civic line was redesigned for 2006, the Si came in coupé form only; the Civic hatchback was no longer available in the U.S. in any form. Volkswagen remained committed to the market segment in North America, though, releasing a turbocharged, redesigned GTI in early 2006 with a notably successful advertising campaign. Mazda introduced its Mazdaspeed 3 in October of 2006, a turbocharged version of their popular 3, with 260 hp.

Until 1980 the VW Golf dominated the hot hatch market segment. Competition was limited to non-hatchbacks, the Mini, and race-inspired enthusiasts' vehicles such as the Vauxhall Chevette HS. However, sub-compacts and superminis had adopted a two-box design ever since the Mini, and, in spite of their small engines, had been adopted by young racing enthusiasts with little money because of their low weight. Thus, even though the Golf was one of the few cars with engines larger than 1.4 L and with more than 100 hp (75 kW), other hatches were on their way to becoming "hot". Also, cars such as the Hillman Imp or the Simca Rallye, while having sedan bodies, were small enough to be considered direct ancestors of the hot hatch.

The first generation of hot hatches included the following notable models:

With the Golf getting slower, heavier and more expensive to match its target market, space opened for a new breed of hot hatches in the 1990s:

The late 1990s saw a gradual shift away from lightweight, economical small cars and the introduction of new market category-blurring vehicles such as the Subaru WRX wagon.

Recent hot hatches include the following models:

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