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Lancia Pu+Ra HPE concept combines the next 10 years of design and tech

The teaser campaign that started with a stylized sculpture last November culminates in this, the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE concept. This represents the long awaited — and perhaps overdue — reboot of a storied brand's design and tech vision for the next ten years. As such, designers packed so much of the past and the future that it's better to see the Pu+Ra as a combination of elements and philosophies coming to future Lancias instead of as a 1:1 template for how Lancias will look. There's also the matter of Lancia's sole market being Italy and tempered expansion from there taking place over a few years. That means a lot of what's here speaks loudest to the single market, which also happens to be the home market.  The HPE looks back to the 1970 Beta HPE shooting brake, when HPE stood for High Performance Estate. After Pu+Ra which mean Pure + Radical, those letters now stand for High Performance Electric and some impressive tech targets. Lancia wants a range of more than 435 miles on the WLTP cycle, battery efficiency of less than 10-kWh per 62 miles, and battery recharging times from 10% to 80% in ten minutes.   The big design strokes are simple geometric shapes, the light signature grille that doubles as a battery level readout, hollow round taillights a la the Stratos, the new Lancia logotype, and the new Lancia badge.     Inside, Lancia plans to create a "home feeling," similar to the 'living room space' characterization that often comes up in relation to autonomous vehicles. Lancia's called the tech component of this concept S.A.L.A., initials for Sound, Air, Light, and Augmentation that happen to spell the Italian word for living room, sala. No swiveling seats here, though. Interior designers worked with Italian furniture maker Cassina on fabrics and textures, resulting in a pair of deep bucket armchairs in wool cloth that look procured from a villa in Via Reggio. They're separated by an armrest that ends in a freestanding table. Elsewhere around the cockpit can be found sustainable wool, velvet, wood marquetry, door panels fabricated from marble dust, and nubuck leather produced without chrome tanning.  S.A.L.A.

Lancia teases battery-electric Stratos that will begin brand reset

Last November, Lancia teased its "Emozione Pu+Ra" concept. Drawn by lead designer Jean-Pierre Ploue, the showcase looked more like sculpture or a car from 2523 instead of vehicular inspiration for production models that will begin arriving this year. We simply didn't know how to read the abstractions. Lancia teased another concept earlier this month, this one leading to an eventual battery-electric rebirth of the Lancia Stratos — we made clear connections between the Pur+Ra and what's ahead. Italy's given us another taste of what's to come, this time an overhead shot of the Stratos concept we're going to see on April 15. The circle in the roof signifies at least three things. It recalls Stratos themes evident elsewhere in the dual round taillights and the curved lines on the concept that stand in for the vintage car's louvers. It also represents part of Ploue's plan for Lancia design, the creative officer saying, "Our designs will be built with iconic shapes like the circle, square and triangle." Lastly, it signifies what will be a clear panel in the roof, Lancia saying a round aperture lets in more light than a square one. We imagine there will be a few questions about that when the reveal happens. Automaker CEO Luca Napolitano told media the Emozione Pu+Ra concept embodies the next century of Lancia looks. The Stratos concept aims more near-term. It "will be very close to the production car," and the bold strokes of the design will guide coming products. That's not just about sheetmetal, either; the feature set will encompass the path forward for "sustainability, technology and electrification" as well. The first model to take the revolution to European car buyers will be a new, all-electric generation of the Ypsilon expected later this year. The supermini hatch is the only car Lancia has sold since 2015, the car's market reduced to just Italy in 2017. According to Wikipedia, the Ypsilon is still the second-most-popular car on sale in that country. It's thought the coming version will be a sibling of the electric Fiat 500.  After that, a sedan is due in 2026, and two years later, the production version of the reborn Delta. At the moment, these remain Euro-only prospects. The automaker plans to grow an online retail operation to go with sales in initial markets of Italy, France, Germany, and the UK. If all goes perfectly over the next five years, who knows how far afield a Delta EV could end up.

Lancia teases new concept inspired by the legendary Stratos HF

The once-storied Italian marque Lancia currently sells only one car, an underwhelming hatchback called the Ypsilon that was launched way back in 2011. However, there are signs of life at the Stellantis-owned brand. They've teased a new concept, and from what we can see it looks to be inspired by the legendary Lancia Stratos HF. So far all we have is a name, the Emozione Pu+Ra. However, the rendering that came with the announcement shows the back half of the concept with some unmistakable Stratos cues – dual round taillights, the flat and wide black spoiler, rear glass with striped shading that evokes the original's rear window louvers.  Some of those cues, like the suspended taillight rings, stem from the Pu+Ra concept unveiled at November's Lancia Design Day conference. There, the company laid out its broad plans to restore the moribund brand to its former glory with — you guessed it — a full EV lineup. It unveiled the Pu+Ra Zero concept that was more sculpture than car, lacking what some would argue to be critical components such as doors, windows, and wheels.  Lancia said the Pu+Ra name was an abbreviation of "pure" and "radical" (not plutonium and radium), and the Zero is a callback to the 1970 Stratos Zero concept. That particular Marcello Gandini wedge made a splash at the Turin Motor Show and remains to this day the most extreme of the many doorstop-shaped cars from the era.  So if the speed form is analogous to the Stratos Zero, then this next evolution in the teaser should be analogous to the Stratos HF production car. Built for Lancia's rally efforts, the singular design won three consecutive World Rally Championships from 1974-76. Obviously the mid-engined layout of the Stratos HF is irrelevant to an EV, but Gandini's brutal blade was as unprecedented as the Miura he had designed for Lamborghini. In other words, the Emozione Pu+Ra should be a distilled and purposeful looker. Lancia CEO Luca Napolitano calls the upcoming concept the company's "brand manifesto for the next 10 years." We shall see what that looks like when it's unveiled on April 15.