Renault confirms Gordini return!

It's official – Gordini is back! Renault has confirmed its much-loved sporting brand is set to return.

As our exclusive report revealed in Issue 1,054, the badge – associated with blue cars with white stripes – will be used on top-of-the-range Renaultsport models, giving buyers a new level of luxury and customisation.

First to benefit will be the Twingo city car. The Gordini version will be based on the Renaultsport Twingo 133, and is set to be unveiled at a special event on Paris’s Champs Elysees next week.

The model will be called the Twingo Gordini RS, and it’s to be joined by a Clio version in the spring, with a Mégane Gordini arriving before the end of 2010.

Prices will be higher than for the regular Renaultsport models the newcomers are based on, and while there won’t be any step up in performance, buyers are to get different wheel options and upgraded interior trims.

This will enable Renault to offer a similar level of personalisation as found on rivals such as the MINI and Fiat 500. The Gordini cars will attempt to steal sales from those firms’ Cooper S and Abarth models.

Gordini first came to prominence when it raced in Formula One back in the Fifties. The company then started working with Renault, tuning engines and creating fast road cars. These included the 8, 12 and – lastly, in the Eighties – the Gordini 5.

The cars’ light blue paint and white stripes became a mark of high-performance credentials, and this colour scheme later featured on the sizzling Clio 182 Cup.

Bosses decided to revive Gordini after ditching plans to bring back the Alpine sports car brand – which would have involved developing an all-new model. Launching Gordini versions of existing cars makes far more financial sense.

The news comes as Renault revealed plans to introduce warm GT variants of the Mégane and the Twingo.