Renault is reviving its 1950s sports brand Gordini for its compact sports cars.

The Twingo Gordini will be unveiled on November 25 at L’Atelier Renault on the Champs Elysées in Paris as part of the ‘Christmas in Blue’ exhibition. It will go on sale in the UK in the middle of 2010 and the Clio Gordini will follow a few months later.

There models will not replace the Renaultsport models already within Renault's range but will offer customers interior and exterior style options which herald back to Gordini's sporting heritage.

Renault’s Mégane Renaultsport, Clio Renaultsport and Twingo Renaultsport will still be available.

Gordini

Amédée Gordini, who developed almost 200,000 Renault vehicles over a 20-year period, achieved some of the brand’s greatest sporting achievements.

After working as a racing mechanic in his teens, Gordini developed his own sports racing and Grand Prix cars before being engaged by Renault in the mid-1950s. The Renault 8 Gordini was one of his most successful creations, finishing 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the 1964 Tour of Corsica rally.