The Renault Alpine plant in Dieppe produced the 1,000th Clio Gordini RS model this month, less than a year after its introduction. Built since May 2010, the Clio Gordini RS is sold in 18 countries, most of them in Europe.
Renault revived the Gordini name at the end of 2009, when it presented the Twingo Gordini RS. Other members of the Gordini family include the Twingo Gordini and more recently, the Wind Gordini, which premiered at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.
Although in the past Gordini was linked with motor sports and performance versions of Renault’s road cars, currently the name is only used to designate styled-up and better equipped models, with no technical changes at all. Compared to the base Renaultsport Clio, the Gordini version brings only exterior and interior styling tweaks.
Half of Renault’s Twingo RS and Clio RS models sold in Europe are wearing the Gordini nameplate and its renowned white stripes. According to Renault, the Twingo RS is the second best sold car of the A sport segment, with a market share of 25 percent in Europe’s biggest five markets in 2010, while the Clio RS owns 16 percent of the B sport segment.
By Dan Mihalascu
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