This is what Lancia used to be: 5 balls and 5 flops from the luxury brand

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Lancia is coming back! The new all-electric generation of the Ypsilon small car is planned to be launched this year. From now on, we will continue with larger models every year; possibly an electric sedan and an all-electric SUV. The brand’s internal combustion engine production will also be discontinued as early as 2026, with the current Ypsilon to be sold only in Italy. The brand recently unveiled its first concept car as a preview of future Lancia design.

Never heard of Lancia? Quite possible: since 2017 the traditional Italian brand has been available only in Italy, where the outdated Ypsilon with renewed hybrid drive is currently sold. However, Lancia had declined in previous years with models that used the Lancia emblem instead of the logo of sister brand Chrysler. Lancia was once seen as an innovator, circling competition in rallies and a major player in the luxury sedan market. Here are the top five and five flops of the brand in its 117-year history.

More than a century old, the Lancia Lambda is, so to speak, the model of all modern cars, even though it may seem antiquated. Until then, bodies were built on load-bearing frames, just like car construction in the old days. Lambda was the first vehicle with a self-supporting body, in which the sheet metal shell was fixed without a separate frame; This saves weight. Also today’s VW Golf and Co. Like the model, it also had independent suspension and hydraulic shock absorbers. It produced 50 or 70 hp (37 or 51 kW), depending on the version. A box office success? How to get it? 13,500 examples of the not-so-cheap upper-class model were produced until 1931.

For true Lancia fans, the slim two-seater is the most beautiful Lancia ever. It was derived from a sedan with a small 1.7-litre V6 engine rated at 56 hp (42 kW), although the convertible produced a decent 108 hp (79 kW). The flat car was designed by Pininfarina. After selling 240 units in a year, this business ended and the Spider was replaced by the Aurelia Convertible with improved details. Aurelia’s beauty price was no longer helping Lancia; production costs were too high and the racing department was too expensive: Lancia boss Gianni Lancia sold the company in 1955 and nothing at Lancia was the same.

The same goes for the Fulvia: in addition to the more classic Lancia sedans, there was also a magnificent coupé version that looks surprisingly modern even today. For the third series in 1974, the 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine with 90 hp (66 kW) was sufficient for a top speed of 170 km/h. Over the years, the slim sports car has become more and more noble, but at the same time Lancia has avoided the qualitative abyss with increasingly thinner body panels.

Giogetto Giugiaro styled the compact hatchback, which has been produced in the same body for 15 years. Now it has changed: from a sort of Italian Golf with four cylinders and 75 or 86 hp (55 or 63 kW) to the S4 Stradale in 1985. As a rally car with up to 480 hp (353 kW), it was so brutal that after numerous accidents the vehicles in the Group B rally class in which it competed were banned. The most legendary version was the HF Integrale with all-wheel drive and a turbo engine up to 215 hp (158 kW).

Fire is free! Based on parent company Fiat’s Panda, the angular little car is powered by Lancia’s Fire engine with 45, 55 or 85 hp (33, 41 or 63 kW) on turbo. However, the small four-cylinder engine was not given this name because it produced too much fire. This was German for Fully Integrated Robotized Engine, a highly automated engine produced solely by robots. This helped Lancia finally get costs under control. The Y10 went very far into the future with its design, but its relatively high price put pressure on the number of units.

But the traditional Italian brand wasn’t all gold either:

Is one of the meanest rally cars of all time supposed to fail? Unfortunately yes – at least in the 195 hp (143 kW) road version, which reaches a top speed of 248 km/h: Lancia had to produce at least 400 of these in normal sales to gain approval. Rallies in the group will be turned into an automobile umbrella organization by the FIA. Probably around 500 were produced, but tires were flat at dealerships. The last one was eventually sold at bargain prices to get rid of the farm. Had we known this at the time, Stratos Stradales are now traded for well over half a million francs.

When Fiat conquered fans of small, light sports cars with the X1/9, Lancia wanted something similar. Pininfarina designed and developed the Montecarlo with a black plastic front and triangular wings at the rear. Its two-liter four-cylinder engine produced at least 120 hp (88 kW). However, while the Fiat with a similar design produced more than 165,000 units in 16 years, the Monte Carlo sold 5,777 units in four years. But things came back again: when Lancia needed a new rally car in 1980, they modernized the coupé, sold a further 7,600 units, and derived from it the legendary 037 rally car.

This is what happens when you give design away: Visually, the Trevi, designed by parent company Fiat, was probably the smoothest of all Lancia sedans. Essentially identical to the Beta hatchback down to the B-pillar, the very high-looking rear has a careless trunk. The cockpit, which appeared to have holes in it, was also strange with all the buttons and gauges recessed. Under the hood, the Trevi looked even more spectacular, thanks to the first series of supercharged engines since World War II, rated at 135 hp (99 kW). But this was of no use; After only five years and approximately 40,000 cars produced, the Trevi was discontinued.

What a name, what a car: When Lancia was looking for a name for a new convertible in 2011, it chose the legendary Flavia sedan from 1960. New? Relative: Now that the Fiat Group had swallowed US automaker Chrysler, its models were seen as cost-effective bases for new Lancia models. And so under the Flavia shell was a Chrysler 200 with a tired 2.4-liter gasoline engine, rocky chassis and hard plastic interior. Lancia’s decline was literally palpable in this four-seat convertible.

Badge engineering, strike two: Chrysler’s Town & Country family minivan also had to carry the Lancia badge in Europe as the Voyager. The seventh-place finisher finally pushed the brand’s tradition to the point of absurdity. What a contrast between the elegant beauties of the 1950s and 1960s and this family car for US moms and dads. The choice of a V6 with 283 hp (202 kW) or a four-cylinder diesel with up to 177 hp (130 kW) pushed the Voyager forward until it was finally discontinued six years later.

Source: Blick