The Italian car brand Lancia, one of the sleeping beauties of Stellantis, presented a concept car on Saturday which should serve as a springboard for relaunching in Europe and allowing it to reconnect with its former glory.
Unveiled on the sidelines of Milan Design Week, this sporty compact foreshadows the three future models, all electric, which will be marketed by 2028 by this manufacturer founded in 1906 in Turin by entrepreneur and driver Vincenzo Lancia. .
“It will be a big challenge to relaunch the brand” in a high-end segment in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, “but we are confident because there are a lot of Lancia enthusiasts in the world, including young people,” he told AFP its director Luca Napolitano.
Lancia currently only sells one model, its small Ypsilon made in Poland, and only in Italy, where it rose to second place in sales in 2022 by dethroning the Fiat 500, with 40,991 units sold.
Passed in 1969 under the control of Fiat, Lancia had seen its sales collapse in the 1990s.
A nod to Lancia’s prestigious past, the concept car recalls the rounded shapes of the legendary Aurelia saloon from the 1950s and the bluish green of the luxurious Flaminia from the 1960s, revisited in a resolutely more modern and simpler style.
Lancia also plays on the nostalgic fiber by drawing inspiration from its sporty Stratos, the queen of rallies in the 1970s, by taking up its emblematic round taillights.
The rear window of the concept car refers to the Lancia of the 70s, the Beta HPE coupé, with its Venetian blinds and its simple lines. A circular roof offers a panoramic view.
– Conquer Europe –
An all-new top-of-the-range Ypsilon will hit the market in 2024, around four meters long, in hybrid and electric versions, larger and more modern than the current city car that is mainly popular with women.
In addition to Italy, it will be marketed, from the summer of 2024, in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
A “flagship” will follow in 2026 in a 100% electric version. Called Gamma, this crossover halfway between sedan and SUV, with a fluid silhouette, will be the flagship model of the range, with a range of more than 700 km and rechargeable in less than ten minutes.
Another electric car, a sporty compact called “Delta” like its illustrious 1980s ancestor, is planned for 2028.
Many Lancia fans around the world feared its demise after the 2021 merger between its parent company Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot-Citroën, which gave birth to the Stellantis group.
But its boss, Carlos Tavares, has decided to resuscitate the small brand within the premium segment, alongside Alfa Romeo and DS. Stellantis’ Head of Design for Europe, Jean-Pierre Ploué, has been dispatched to Turin.
“I’m just the conductor. The Lancia is 100% Italian design, made by Italian teams,” the French designer told AFP.
– German competition –
A first attempt at revival failed in the 2010s, after the merger between Fiat and the American Chrysler, which saw Lancia affix its label to models inspired by the American brand.
In the process, Lancia had to gradually withdraw from its European markets between 2014 and 2017. And a return seems strewn with pitfalls.
“Competition is very strong since Mercedes, Audi and BMW dominate the premium segment in Europe with a market share of around 70%,” Felipe Munoz, analyst at Jato Dynamics, told AFP.
“When you leave the European market, it is very difficult to regain the trust of customers, especially at the high end,” he warns.
But Lancia promises pure emotions to its enthusiasts.
Marcello Mastroianni’s favorite car, the Lancia symbolizes “la Dolce Vita, art, culture, cinema, design, Italy’s areas of excellence”, argues Mr. Napolitano.