“The entire interior and instrument cluster sit beneath a fluid, wraparound beltline, creating a sense of purity and providing the driver with a perfectly unobstructed field of vision,” says Stéphane Maiore, Renault’s interior design director. 

There’s no cheap plastic or tacky carbon fibre in this elegant space, simply exquisite materials such as blue corduroy used for the lower half of the dashboard and on the bucket seats. There’s plenty of Alcantara and leather throughout as well, including the three-spoke steering wheel, while all the switchgear on the centre console is also made from brushed aluminium. 

While every element of the design and interior has been meticulously crafted, things are a lot fuzzier when it comes to the technical details. We know the new Renault 8 Gordini is all-electric, spitting out 266bhp, all of which is sent to the rear wheels. The 1964 original was also rear-drive and, curiously, rear-engined, producing about 95bhp from a 1.1-litre in-line four-cylinder engine. 

Its zero-emissions descendant's battery size or anything else in that department is a mystery for now. We assume it sits on the same all-aluminium architecture developed by Alpine that the 533bhp Renault 5 Turbo 3E hot hatch/drift machine uses. While that would make perfect sense, it hasn’t been confirmed.

Will Renault make a production version?

The only other catch with this jaw-dropping, retro-futuristic creation is that it's a one-off concept, very much not designed for production, and at the time of writing, Renault has no plans to make a road-legal version. But that’s not to say it can’t or won’t, especially if enough people say they would buy one – or register their interest at next month’s Paris Motor Show, where the concept will be on display.