Renault is in the midst of an ABBA Voyage moment, bringing its greatest hits back for a new generation with a lot of clever tech underpinning the nostalgia.

The Renault 5, Renault 4 and Twingo have had their turn, and now another 60s hit - the Renault 8 Gordini - has been given the remix treatment. But Renaults designer has another old hit on his wish list - the original Espace.

That designer is Romain Gauvin, who heads up Renault’s Advanced Design team and chatting to me at the unveiling of the Renault 8 Gordini Concept, he admitted: “That’s one I would really like to see come back.”

If I’m being picky, Renault still sells the sixth-generation car in parts of Europe as a hybrid family SUV, but this would be a reimagining of the original - the wonderfully odd, spacious people carrier that made family transport feel like a new idea from outer space.

Back to Renault’s latest dip into the archives. The original Renault 8 Gordini was a four-door saloon with a sporty streak; the new concept is a compact, two-door electric coupe. Gauvin explained that keeping the spirit of the original was key even though the shape of the car is very different, telling me: “It was sort of a working-class hero. It’s a very humble car. It used to be the most basic saloon car, and we just made a sport version out of it. That’s the kind of honesty that we wanted to keep for this reinterpretation.”

The original 1.1-litre petrol engine has been replaced with a 270hp electric motor at the rear, and the original’s almost perfect symmetry has given way to a sportier shape, with more visual weight towards the rear of the car. But it still keeps the Gordini-inspired blue paint and stripes, along with six round front lights inspired by the rally car.

There’s also a rather brilliant trick at the back: laser-etched stripes in the painted bodywork appear when the rear lights switch on, then vanish when they switch off.

Inside, there’s navy corduroy trim, navy leather bucket seats, brushed aluminium, physical buttons and circular digital dials. It feels warm and simple in a way many screen-heavy modern cars don't, and screams Parisian chic.

But the Renault 8 Gordini concept itself seems headed for display rather than a showroom. Gauvin described it as a design project celebrating Renault's history, with no production engineering programme behind it.

Gauvin ruled out making it a production reality, but. I reckon he had a glint in his eye - and having recently been for a passenger ride in the wild Renault 5 Turbo 3E, I wouldn’t put anything past them at the moment.

Renault, if you’re reading this: please don’t let the 8 Gordini be a one-hit wonder. And while you’re at it, I also reckon that the original Espace is overdue for an encore too.

The original Renault Espace arrived in 1984