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Let’s forget about Mercedes. There is no mention of Aston Martin or Rolls-Royce. BMW? It produced motorcycles and cookware products. What about Ferrari? I just learned to run on European racetracks. No, everyone who had self-respect in 1950s European society drove a Lancia. Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933-2021), Brigitte Bardot (89) or Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996): Cinema’s most beloved audience members did not collect fees to take photos in the Lancia; They went by car and paid for it privately out of their own pockets.
Style, image and engineering at their most innovative; All three factors rarely come together, but such was the case at Lancia. The Aurelia B24 Spider was considered one of the most beautiful cars of its time. Founded in Turin (I) in 1906 by racing driver and inventor Vincenzo Lancia (1881–1937), the brand’s models were reliable, although not cheap. Lancia invented today’s modern automobile with the Lambda in 1922: self-supporting body, independent suspension, shock absorbers. Back then, tech enthusiasts loved Lancia.
No more retro
It should be like this in the future too. Last year, Lancia finally showed a redesign after 17 years, and this year the new Lancia Y was the first of three new models in the style of the Pu+Ra HPE concept car. The abbreviation HPE once adorned Lancia station wagons. However, brand boss Luca Napolitano (48) does not want to repeat past mistakes and rely on the nostalgia card, even if Pu+Ra HPE covers many details of older models. Because there was always a crisis at Lancia when they tried to cheat from tradition.
Like on its 100th birthday in 2006, when the brand, which has long been part of the Fiat Group, introduced the next generation of its legendary Delta model, after years of faded glamor and fame. Not enough to survive the next financial crisis: Fiat bought the bankrupt US company Chrysler, and when it took over the company completely in 2014, Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne (1952-2018) had to save even more and loss-making Lancia’ He closed the. It was closed in Europe in 2017 and its keys were thrown away. In Italy alone, only the Ypsilon small car remains on the market, and it would even become the segment’s bestseller in 2023. What about the rest of the world? Hand in hand: forgot Lancia.
It starts with the new Ypsilon
It is even more surprising that Stellantis now wants to give the brand a more elegant look. He is one of 14 people worldwide in the newly formed group since 2021. Although there was sufficient construction space from profitability to quality to electrification, group CEO Carlos Tavares (65) had Napolitano work on a concept for Lancia immediately after the merger. Not an easy task: with Alfa Romeo, DS and partly Maserati, the other three sisters are moving towards the luxury segment. Napolitano draws a line, at least when it comes to Alfa: “Lancia represents elegance, not sportiness.” Favorite Lancia? Of course Aurelia B24 Spider.
The restart should still be sporty. The new small Ypsilon is based on the familiar Stellantis electric platform, produces 156 hp (115 kW), offers 51 kilowatt hours (kWh) of usable battery capacity for 400 kilometers and can only tolerate 100 kW of charging power on a fast charger. In terms of the domestic market, Napolitano does not yet dare to do without an internal combustion engine; He is confident that this will alienate 80 to 90 percent of Lancia customers. Therefore, a hybrid version with 100 hp (74 kW) and an additional 48 volt electric motor is also available for resin electric markets. A sports version of the Abarth 600e called Y HF with 240 electric horsepower (174 kW) will also arrive next year.
Is it profitable thanks to higher margins?
Lancia engineers rely on the company’s shelves for technology, but the dealer network needs to be rebuilt. Thanks to Ypsilon, there are still garage owners in Italy. But Napolitano needs to establish new businesses in 70 planned European cities. Online sales? Napolitano expects only 15 percent.
Tavares is giving it ten years for the revival, but some investment will be required. Tavares calculation: Models of mass brands can only be profitable with cost discipline. However, with a so-called premium brand, you can charge higher prices for larger cars and gain more margin thanks to the image. But Lancia will still have to work on it. For example, it has the greenest image of the future in the group, thanks to the highest proportion of recycled materials. When it comes to quality, Napolitano even uses Mercedes as a reference.
Three new models in four years
Does Lancia have a chance? Previous customers are likely to be skeptical of the driving strategy; By 2028, the product range will include only electric vehicles. And tomorrow’s customers are interested neither in history nor in the image of the past. The two more models that will follow the Ypsilon in the next four years will need to be independent and based on the new Stellantis electric platforms. And it ideally has 800-volt technology to further differentiate itself from the Ypsilon, whose technology can also be found among Citroën or Fiat electric vehicles. The names stay true to the Greek letters: Gamma will be the name of the 4.70 meter long hatchback sedan planned for 2026 and will also come as an all-wheel drive vehicle with extremely luxurious features. «50 percent of the customers will come from Italy; The other half will be sold in other countries,” Napolitano expects. Two years later came the Lancia Delta, arguably even bigger as an SUV.
It starts in Italy’s domestic market with the new Lancia Ypsilon at the beginning of summer; This is followed by Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and France. Germany starts a year later. What about in Switzerland? Napolitano is still silent on the matter. It is considered the premium market of Europe.
Source: Blick
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
