So, I am getting busier these days, what with college and all, and I’ve kind of lost track of where hot hatches are and where they’re going. Back in my days of more Euro-centric car love, hot hatches were some of my favorite cars. These days I haven’t really paid much attention to them because they still aren’t sold here much and there haven’t been any ground-shatteringly important hot hatches released overseas, either.
But then, the other day, I was dicking around on the internet and I saw a picture of the Renaultsport Megane. I was quite impressed by the styling, as I am to some degree with most contemporary Renaults, so I looked further into it and realized that I no longer know anything about the market for hot hatches. So this is the "getting hellcat back up to speed with what is going on in the hot-hatch world" thread.
TL-DR: Basically the thread title minus the reality-TV flair; Where were they, where are they now, and what’s going to happen to them in the future?
I think that having left the (‘90s-‘00s) bloat phase of their lives hot hatches will get slightly leaner, get smaller engines and bigger turboes. Though, using Top Gear as my only barometer, there seem to be less on the market than during the boom years. Obviously, this is probably a pretty awful way to gauge the market. I think they will also travel more upmarket, and while I’m not opposed to premium hatches, I don’t particularly like the idea of the cheap-and-cheerful hot hatch getting too blue-blooded.