1972 Lancia Fulvia 1.3s on 2040-cars

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Lancia steps off the chopping block, promises three new cars

Stellantis has canceled Lancia's death sentence and granted it a new lease on life. The storied Italian brand announced its own salvation and pledged to launch three new cars (its first since 2011) starting in 2024, including one that will resurrect a well-known nameplate. "Today is an important day. Lancia is ready for Europe, and we have taken the first step towards becoming a credible and respected brand in the premium segment," affirmed company CEO Luca Napolitano. He also presented a 10-year plan that he calls the brand's renaissance. As of writing, the only car in the Lancia portfolio is the Ypsilon (pictured). The model offensive will begin in 2024, when the little four-door hatchback (which remains stunningly popular in Italy in spite of its age) will finally get a replacement. Details about the next-generation model remain few and far between, but it will stretch about 157 inches long and it will be offered exclusively with an electric powertrain. The next Ypsilon will be joined by what Lancia calls a flagship in 2026. The model will measure 181 inches long, meaning it will be a couple of inches shorter than the current-generation BMW X3. It's too early to tell whether it will take the form of a sedan or an SUV. Lancia has never sold an SUV, and it has historically built big luxury sedans, but even European buyers prefer high-riding models in this segment. Finally, the third part of Lancia's renaissance is a long-rumored new Delta. It will stretch around 173 inches from bumper to bumper (so it will be about four inches longer than a Volkswagen Golf) and it will be characterized by what the firm describes as "a sculpted, muscular design with geometric lines that will appeal to enthusiasts." It sounds like Lancia designers will try to echo the original Delta, which was released in 1979 as a family-friendly hatchback and later morphed into one of the most successful World Rally Championship cars of all time. Some of Lancia's future models will be electrified, and the brand will go electric-only by 2028. And, we're told that every future member of the range will feature an interior with a typically Italian design, though photos of the upcoming Lancia models haven't been released yet. While it sounds like Lancia is saved, at least for the time being, several points remain in the air.

New electric Ypsilon city car is Lancia's last bid for relevance

Stellantis-owned Lancia has unveiled its first new model in well over a decade. Offered only with an electric drivetrain, the new Ypsilon is a small, premium four-door hatchback developed to make the 118-year-old Italian brand relevant again after an extended period of decline. We shouldn't be writing this story, because Lancia shouldn't be around to release a new Ypsilon. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles until his death in 2018, planned to close the brand. It was too small, too heavily reliant on the European market, and ultimately more of a burden than anything else. He executed his plan gradually: first, he tried giving Lancia a handful of Chrysler models to sell in Europe, which didn't work. Then, he gradually pulled the plug on Lancia's range and foreign operations, leaving the company with a single model (the last-generation Ypsilon) to sell in a single country (Italy). Rewind to the 1990s, and that's exactly how Autobianchi shut down. History didn't repeat itself this time. Stellantis executives decided to give every brand in the group a chance to prove why it deserves to exist. The third-generation Ypsilon (we're counting the Y launched in 1995 as the original) is Lancia's first argument. Having access to its parent company's parts bin helped keep development costs in check, and the hatchback shares its Common Modular Platform (CMP) with other small hatchbacks you'll see meandering across Europe such as the Peugeot 208 and the Opel Corsa. Visually, it borrows a handful of styling cues from the Pu+Ra HPE concept unveiled in 2023, like low-mounted headlights and three thin strips of LEDs on the front end. Out back, you'll find a pair of round headlights ostensibly inspired by the ones fitted to the Stratos, a coupe that cemented Lancia's reputation as a force to reckon with in the World Rally Championship (WRC) during the 1970s. That's as much of Lancia's rallying heritage the brand chose to channel, however. Instead, it's highlighting the upmarket chapter of its history: for decades, the brand was associated with luxury rather than with performance. Italian presidents rolled around in purpose-built Flaminia sedans in the 1960s. Rallying was the brand's claim to fame in the 1970s and the 1980s, and Lancia unceremoniously became associated with badge-engineering during the 1990s. This is where its decline began. The new Ypsilon's job is to reverse it by giving buyers a more stylish alternative to, say, the 208 it's based on.

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.