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One of these days, sooner or later, we’re regrettably going to write a story announcing Lancia’s demise.
The once-great Italian auto-maker is in a cadaverous state. It no longer sells cars outside of Italy, where its line-up consists solely of the Ypsilon, an aging, pseudo-chic city car based on the equally ripen Fiat 500.
It wasn’t always that way. Decades ago, many motorists considered Lancia an Italian alternative to Mercedes-Benz. Then, after joining Fiat in 1969, it became known for world-beating rally cars before fading away into anonymity during the 1990s. Here are some of Lancia’s greatest hits
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Lancia Ardea (1939)
Lancia had the misfortune of introducing the Ardea during one of the most tumultuous years in recent European history. The political climate in Europe overshadowed a brilliant machine. It used a 903cc V4 engine rated, initially, at 29hp. The four-cylinder featured hemispherical combustion chambers over a decade before Chrysler made headlines by launching its first Hemi-powered car.
The Ardea benefitted from several upgrades over the course of its life cycle. Second-series cars came with a trunk lid, third-series models received a five-speed manual transmission and fourth-series variants got an array of mechanical upgrades. Production ended in 1953.
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Lancia Aurelia (1950)
The Aurelia turned heads when it made its debut at the 1950 Turin auto show. It wore an elegant, harmonious design with suicide rear doors and a flowing roof line. Peeking behind the grille revealed the world’s first volume-produced V6 engine, a 1.8-liter unit rated at 55hp.
Lancia and the numerous coachbuilders operating in Italy at the time happily turned the Aurelia into an entire family of production cars and concepts. Lancia made a coupe and a convertible, Viotti built a small number of station wagons with wood paneling and Pininfarina designed a convertible named, appropriately, Spider with a highly futuristic design. Aurelia production lasted until 1958.
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Lancia Flaminia (1958)
Lancia continued moving upmarket. It made the Flaminia bigger and more luxurious than the Aurelia it replaced. From a design standpoint, the Pininfarina-styled Flaminia broke ties with its predecessor by adopting a wide horizontal grille and a much boxier silhouette.
At launch, the Flaminia used an evolution of its predecessor’s V6 engine. Again, Lancia and coachbuilders like Pininfarina and Zagato expanded the Flaminia family with coupe and convertible models. Lancia’s flagship allowed it to credibly position itself as an alternative to Mercedes-Benz.
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Lancia Flavia (1961)
The Flavia filled the gap between the Appia, which replaced the Ardea, and the Flaminia. It wasn’t merely a mid-range model, though. Its sheet metal hid a front-wheel drive architecture built around a water-cooled flat-four engine, an innovative layout that helped the Flavia get the attention of buyers and the press in spite of a design many wrote off as incongruous. 1965 brought a mechanical fuel-injection system made by Kugelfischer.
The Flavia became the 2000 in 1971, when Lancia positioned it as its flagship after stopping production of the Flaminia.
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Lancia Fulvia (1963)
The Fulvia replaced the Appia at the bottom of the Lancia line-up. It kept the narrow-angle V4 engine but, following the path blazed by the Flavia, it shifted from rear- to front-wheel drive. Its design echoed the Flaminia’s shift towards a more contemporary look with a wide horizontal grille and a boxier silhouette, though it wasn’t as gracefully executed. At the time, the public and the press criticized the styling while praising the driving dynamics.
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Lancia Fulvia Coupe (1965)
Lancia expanded the Fulvia family with a coupe in 1965. It sat on a shortened version of the sedan’s platform and wore a head-turning look inspired by Riva boats, according to its designer. Lancia’s racing department later stuffed a more powerful engine between the Fulvia’s fenders and won the 1972 World Rally Championship with it, setting the stage for dozens of victories in the subsequent years.
Staying true to tradition, coachbuilder Zagato made a sportier version of the Fulvia with a more aerodynamic body initially made out of aluminum. It used the same engine as the standard coupe.
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Lancia Stratos (1973)
Easily one of Lancia’s most famous cars, the Stratos grew from the wedge-shaped Stratos Zero concept car Bertone introduced at the 1970 Turin auto show. It likely would have remained a concept had it not caught the attention of Lancia’s racing department, who wanted it to replace the Fulvia in rally events.
Ferrari let Lancia use the Dino’s 2.4-liter V6 engine for the project. With 190hp on tap, the Stratos became a force to be reckoned with in the World Rally Championship, winning the series in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Fiat later replaced it with the 131 Abarth, but the Stratos continued winning races even without factory support in the hands of privateers.
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Lancia Beta (1972)
The Beta was the first car Lancia designed under Fiat ownership. The brand merged into the mainstream to save money. Launched as a sedan, the Beta ditched the V4 and flat-four engines and adopted a tweaked version of Fiat’s twin-cam four-cylinder engine.
It made up for what it lacked in mechanical ingenuity by offering a diverse line-up of body styles. The catalog included a two-box sedan, a coupe, a targa, a shooting brake, a mid-engined coupe and, later, a three-box sedan called Trevi.
The Beta also got Lancia into trouble, especially in America and in England. It rusted well yet the firm optimistically offered a corrosion warranty. In the face of all wisdom, Lancia found itself obligated to buy cars out of junkyards during the 1970s because they were too rusty to safely remain on the road but still covered by the warranty.
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Lancia Beta Monte Carlo/Scorpion (1974)
While Americans associated the name Monte Carlo with a Chevrolet as long as the Monaco district it's named after, Europeans saw it on a mid-engined variant of the Beta. Lancia consequently used the Beta Scorpion name in the United States.
The project began when Fiat and Abarth brainstormed ways to build a street-legal car that could easily be converted into a race car if needed. They originally envisioned the model as a Fiat, and some even floated the name X1/20 to signal its positioning as a bigger alternative to the X1/9, but Lancia received the car at the last minute. Credible rumors claim Fiat understandably feared the X1/20 would overlap with the Abarth-built 131 in competition.
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Lancia Gamma (1976)
The Gamma plugged the hole left by the Flaminia at the top of the Lancia line-up. The two models couldn’t be more different. Launched nearly 20 years after its predecessor, the Gamma ditched the Flaminia’s three-box silhouette in favor of a bold-yet-contentious two-box design with an almost fastback-like rear end. Today, the brand’s marketing department would undoubtedly call it a four-door coupe.
The design was just the tip of the iceberg. Power came not from a V6 but from a brand-new flat-four engine that spun the front wheels. The line-up included a sedan and a coupe, and Pininfarina turned the Gamma into a shooting brake that never received the green light for production.
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Lancia Delta (1979)
Speak the word Delta and images of a wide-bodied hatchback in full WRC regalia immediately comes to mind. Lancia didn’t develop it as a rally beast. Instead, it envisioned a city-friendly hatchback for motorists ready to graduate from a cheaper model like, say, a Fiat Ritmo. Racing fame came later.
Through a quirk of history, the Delta became the Saab-Lancia 600 in Sweden. Low sales reflected the fact that very few motorists found the idea of driving an Italian car masquerading as a Saab through a Swedish winter an attractive proposition. The original Delta nonetheless remained in production until 1994.
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Lancia 037 (1982)
Lancia, Abarth and Dallara began the 037 project in the early 1980s. Designed to take advantage of then-new regulations in rallying, the 037 demonstrated the capacity of Lancia’s supercharging technology with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 205hp in its most basic state of tune.
The 037 took first place in the 1983 World Rally Championship by a narrow margin, becoming the last rear-wheel drive car to win the series. It finished second in 1984, trailing first-place winner Audi by 12 points. The writing was on the wall, and the four-wheel drive Delta S4 entered the stage in 1985.
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Lancia Trevi VX Bimotore (1984)
As four-wheel drive spread through the world of rallying, Lancia experimented with the layout by plucking a Trevi from the assembly line and adding a supercharged 2.0-liter engine in the space normally occupied by the rear bench. It channeled its power to the rear wheels, while an identical four-cylinder located in the engine bay turned the front wheels. The two engines joined forces to make 300hp.
Though fast, the Trevi VX Bimotore remained a one-off example. Lancia later adopted a more conventional (and much lighter) four-wheel drive system.
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Lancia Delta S4 (1985)
Lancia began cranking the Delta dial up when it introduced the 130hp HF Turbo in 1983. In 1985, it entered Group B rallying with the Delta S4, which looked like a Delta in the same way that a rhinoceros dressed up like an Alsatian looks like a dog. Lancia built 200 street-legal examples of the car to homologate it.
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Lancia Y10 (1985)
The Y10 arrived in 1985 to replace the Autobianchi A112, which made its debut in 1969 as Italy's surprisingly well-executed answer to the Mini. Though Italian-market models wore Autobianchi emblems, the Y10 joined the Lancia line-up in many European countries. It stood out with a boxy design and, on most versions, a black hatch. Lancia marketed the Y10 as a more upscale alternative to the Fiat Panda it shared many parts with.
The Y10 spawned hot-rodded variants, including the Turbo and the GT i.e., and countless limited editions. Lancia also made a four-wheel drive version which used parts shared with the unstoppable Panda 4x4.
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Lancia Delta HF 4WD (1986)
Lancia capitalized on its presence in rallying by building a four-wheel drive variant of the Delta. The HF 4WD model came with a 2.0-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine tuned to 165hp, a generous amount at the time. Four-wheel drive helped it handle much better than the front-wheel drive HF Turbo.
The HF 4WD evolved into the first Delta Integrale in 1987. Lancia addressed the HF’s shortcomings by installing bigger brakes and a 185hp engine. 1989 bought a 16-valve variant of the Integrale.
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Lancia Thema 8.32 (1986)
Lancia sought ways to add spice to the Thema, its flagship model. Story has it André Chardonnet, the brand’s French importer, suggested dropping a Ferrari-sourced V8 in the engine bay. Some undoubtedly scoffed in disbelief but he wasn’t kidding and Lancia did just that. Borrowed from the 308 Quattrovalvole, the 2.9-liter made 215hp, which was enough to send the Thema from zero to 60mph in 7.2sec. Upgraded brakes and a Bosch-designed ABS system helped keep the power in check.
It took a well-trained eye to tell the 8.32 apart from a standard Thema. Lancia intentionally kept a low-key appearance. The story was different inside, where the brand added palatial amenities like soft leather upholstery and real walnut trim. Production ended in 1992.
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Lancia Lancia Hyena (1992)
Zagato designer Marco Pedracini liked the idea of dropping a two-door body on the chassis of a Delta Integrale. Lancia did not, so decision-makers sent Pedracini home with his sketches. Paul Koot, the company’s Dutch importer, caught wind of the car and called Zagato to arrange production.
The Hyena’s chassis came from a 1991 Delta Integrale, though its engine's output spiked up to 250hp. It was lighter, faster and much sexier than a Delta. Lancia initially agreed to provide Koot and Zagato with Delta chassis but backed out at the last minute. The production process consequently involved Koot buying a Delta, stripping it, sending the chassis to Italy where Zagato fitted the Hyena body before shipping it back to Holland.
Planned production dropped from 500 to 75 and costs sky-rocketed. Zagato and Koot ultimately built just 24 examples of the car.
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Lancia Thesis (2001)
With the Thesis, Lancia again tried rekindling ties with its luxurious past. Its design drew inspiration from the Dialagos concept shown in 1999. While some argued it looked like a wombat, the overall idea was to capture the classy styling trends of its heyday and put them on a car developed for the 21st century.
Lancia went to great lengths to position the Thesis as a credible alternative to the Audi A6 and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class but buyers shunned it -- at least those not affiliated with the Italian government. High officials in Rome seemingly scooped up a majority of the production run. Though fit to shuttle prime ministers, it wasn’t as engaging to drive as its German rivals, it wasn’t as well built inside, and Lancia’s image wasn’t as prestigious. Production ended in early 2009 after about 16,000 examples rolled off the assembly line.
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What’s happened since?
In hindsight, the Thesis stands out as the last car Lancia designed on its own. Its successor, the second-generation Thema, came straight from Chrysler. The American firm also sent its Italian half-sibling the Voyager minivan (pictured) and, shamefully, the 200 Convertible. The Ypsilon and the Delta both came from Fiat.
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What's next?
The various attempts to re-launch Lancia all failed. Even the rumors of a born-again Delta Integrale turned out to be inaccurate. It came down to saving Alfa Romeo or Lancia and Fiat chose the former. Not once to mince words, Fiat-Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne clearly stated the brand's time had come.
"We have curtailed our ambitions for Lancia. I'm going to be saying things that will hurt old Lancia people. The market has moved on and not every opportunity can be realized, we can't cede to every demand," he told Autocar in May 2014. Lancia took down its websites across Europe in spring 2017, indicating it no longer sells cars outside of Italy. The brand's Italian site remains live and it advertises the Ypsilon (pictured), a model launched in 2011.
Fiat has made no further announcements about Lancia's future, though some sources claim it will sell the company in the coming months. Finding a suitor for a troubled auto-maker might be more difficult than it sounds, as General Motors aptly demonstrated when it exited Saab. The sale represents plan A; plan B involves Fiat shuttering Lancia when Ypsilon production finally ends, probably in 2018 or 2019. A really radical plan C might be to make Lancia an electric vehicle-only brand for the FCA group, or even to sell it to a brand-hungry Chinese firm to do something similar.
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