Hard to believe but the Renault Clio has been for sale on these shores for over 25 years now. The Renault Clio was originally launched on 29 March 1991. It was designed to replace the much-loved Renault 5, increasing refinement to create a ‘big little car, although this car remained in production until 1996 at a factory in Slovenia’.

By the time a revised version of the first-generation Renault Clio arrived in 1994, the car accounted for 49% of Renault’s sale in the UK.

Over 12 million cars have been sold across the globe since its introduction, over 1.2 million in the UK alone.

The advertising campaign for the original Renault Clio, featuring Nicole and her Papa, had eight different films. Nicole was played by actress Estelle Skornik, who was once judged the second most recognisable person in the UK, ahead of the then-serving Prime Minister John Major, Chris Evans and Bob Hoskins.

The final episode of the campaign was aired on TV in May 1998, helping to launch the second-generation Renault Clio II and featured comedian Vic Reeves being spurned by Nicole at the altar for his comedy partner Bob Mortimer, parodying The Graduate.

The third-generation Clio III was launched in 2005 and was the first supermini to have a five-star EuroNCAP safety rating. Other features included a tyre pressure monitoring system and the introduction of a card instead of a key.

The Clio bears the name Lutécia in Japan because Honda retains the rights to the name Clio after establishing the Honda Clio sales channel in 1984. Lutecia is derived from the word Lutetia, a former Roman city that is now known as Paris.

One of the best-loved, most admired and most sought-after versions is the Renault Clio Williams, built to celebrate Renault’s Formula One World Championship wins with the Williams team.

In 2009, a sportier GT model was introduced to create a stepping stone between the regular models and the hot Renault Sport versions.

But arguably the maddest Clio was the V6 version introduced in 1998, powered by (as the name suggests) a 3.0-litre 227bhp V6, which was replaced by an even more powerful 252bhp version on 2003. They’re becoming increasingly valuable on the collectors’ market.

Over 12m Renault Clio's have been sold worldwide since its introduction, with 1,203,029 sold to date in the UK.

The Muse of history, Clio was a source of inspiration to poets, dramatists and authors, such as Homer, who lived in Ancient Greece. Clio was one of the young, beautiful maidens referred to as the Nine Muses. The nine Muses were the daughters of Zeus, the king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory.

Renault is planning to reduce Clio model production in France and to shift to Oyak-Renault plant in Bursa.