Alexandre
With a Ypsilon that keeps the lead in the Lancia out of the water at arm's length for several years, here is finally some concrete information about the future of the Lancia brand in the hands of the Stellantis brand ecosystem: the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE concept.
As a reminder, during the FCA/PSA merger, Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, announced that all brands had their place... as long as they prove themselves commercially, and above all are profitable.
Positioned at the premium level like DS and Alfa Romeo, Lancia is perhaps the brand whose future is the most uncertain. While those who know its history see a lot of potential in it, it must be admitted that, outside Italy, the brand has been somewhat forgotten. Ask someone under 30, or even 40, if they know the Lancia brand and what they think of it...
For the rebirth of the last hope of the brand, the design was entrusted to the Frenchman Jean-Pierre Ploué (and his team) who designed the latest Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel. His mission is to extract Lancia's DNA and position it in a distinctive way compared to the other brands of the group. On the menu, a timeless, pure, radical and typically Italian style.
So here we are, after the presentation of an Apple Magic Mouse concept several months ago...
...Lancia takes advantage of the Milan Design Week to present a more concrete concept: the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE.
Understand Lancia Pure Radical High Performance Electric. Everyone will think what they want about this name.
First of all for the design, we can clearly see a reminder of the Lancia Stratos. Lancia also specifies that there is a Beta HPE... Maybe. Concerning the front it's all new and it seems that it's the new brand signature since it is already what was presented on the first concept.
Outside and inside it is very stylish, very modern, even futuristic. Many new materials are used, some of them coming from recycling. Overall, we can see that Lancia is going for elegance, Italian chic and know-how, a bit like DS is French chic and know-how.
Other interesting information, the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE concept is well on its way and was made with technological modules (engine, battery, suspension, brakes, etc.) that will be on the future New Ypsilon. It is important to mention this because until recently the Alfa Romeo Tonale concept was not on the road...another time, another era.
Concretely, the Lanca range in all this:
- in 2024, the new Ypsilon, a fastback sedan in PHEV and electric 156 hp (same base as the Peugeot 408 and future e-408);
- in 2025 a Ypsilon HF, a sportier version with 240 hp (unofficial information);
- in 2026 the Gamma (which has changed its name because a year ago it was Aurelia), a D-SUV that will share its platform with the future DS7;
- in 2028 the Delta, a city car with the same base as the future Peugeot e-308 which will be launched the same year;
From what we understand, the Lancia brand will be reserved for the European market and will be distributed by Alfa Romeo and DS dealers... We know that there will be 60 dealers in Italy and, according to our information, 20 in France.
Hi Alex.
Are you thinking of doing an article on the series of the last Quadrifoglio?
Or even one on the Maserati GT2 that we are starting to see on YouTube and other media?
Would it be possible for you to create an article about the WEC races?
For this concept I remain dubious with the rear which pulls too much especially the rear which reminds too much the blade of that one finds on the SUV like Aston.
The fact that the name Aurelia is not used is great and as the Gamma was not particularly successful, it will allow to put the name back on the map.
Now when I see the underside .... It will be without me.
People under 40 years old know it (don't push it though). What do they think about it? That it's still the reference in rallying, a brand that has released several SuperCars. Now there are more customers in the world who know Lancia than... DS.
Ask people what they think of DS? And especially how many know it who are not attached to the car? Almost no one!!!!! For people a DS... it's a car not a brand
A brand like Lancia is not there to reach the 30 year olds but rather the 40 year olds (the Ypsilon was originally a product for women). People under 30 are more attached.... to Abarth.
To sell Lancia only in Europe is a huge bullshit without name!
What do they want to put forward? DS? The brand that nobody wants? Have you ever seen many DS on the road?
very few DS actually .... but infinitely more than Lancia (outside Italy)
I see more Ypsilons, Deltas and Lybras than DS in France, Switzerland and Italy.
The DS are imaginary.
Yes and the problem with the merger between fca and psa is that ds and Lancia target the same customers. Now given the design of Peugeot, ds and opel current I fear the worst, more with a 1.2 puretoc and there was no need to remake Lancia.
That's exactly what I thought Dav and I would have thought that Lancia would be on sale worldwide.
As what they do everything to sink this brand while it is DS which should be got rid of so that Citroën takes its place.
When you see that of DS, I only met one DS9 and one DS7 since the brand exists. Yet between Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy I should have met several when you hear people talking about it but nothing.
Lancia has come up with a wonderful concept, the Ypsilon will probably abandon the small MPV line to offer something much sportier (especially with an HPE variant). I think that the panzers will get tired and that a certain clientele will look for something more racy. Clearly I'm part of the core target, but I wonder how they will keep the prices reasonable with such collaborations (Cassina in particular...). In short, I love it and I'm not worried about the legitimacy of the brand within the group. In a few months, the FCA group brings out a 500e, an Alfa Tonale, a Maserati GranTurismo and this superb Lancia evocation. The end of a long wait for renewal.
We have long regretted the abandonment of the little MiTo but with this at Lancia, FCA showrooms will really look like art galleries... To be followed by the Fiat 600 and the one off Alfa Romeo... Champagne!
The brand has not been forgotten in France, just see the emotion in the video of POA at the Centro Stile of Torino on YouTube and I'm sure that Top Gear GB will do a report on this Pu+Ra if not already done ... The choice of the Design Week in Milano is also excellent in the positioning of the brand, the fallout will be global (if not galactic)! For the moment with the new logo and the progressive awakening it's a no-fail.
You're optimistic Fredo 😉😁, the new models are not due to stellantis, they were planned except the jeep avenger but it's psa, even in thermal it's the 1,2 puretoc with all its defects 😡.
As for the price, Lancia will be more expensive
In Lyon, the dealership has moved, opel is with alfa, jeep, fiat and abarth, for the moment no place for Lancia and if their cars are all made with the same materials as psa and opel which have the same style and well it does not make dream.
Besides, I don't understand why the manufacturers didn't continue to have some models designed by pininfarina or other Italian designer
The problem with Pininfarina is that they are now under Indian flag.
As for the rest, Dav, I agree with you completely from start to finish.
Fredo, Germany is not making any decisions and is caught between the Chinese market, which is out of their hands, and the US market, which is dedicated to Japanese brands.
Of course there is no room for Lancia at the moment, there is no new model until next year... Lancia is going to position itself much higher in the range than Peugeot and Opel, DS does not take over Peugeot models but produces its own bodies. They are horrible but that's their problem, and the materials have nothing to do with it. Opel did it in a hurry, but Lancia takes its time and relies on its history to regain legitimacy (which DS lacks). Jeep has produced a small model that doesn't look like the 2008, yet it is based on the same platform. The engine will be electric - unless you live in Italy - and a priori it will make 150 horsepower. I still insist on the fact that the "current" Ypsilon (i.e. 2011) is not at all up to Lancia's standards and that it is a great opportunity for the brand to benefit from this platform. The quality will take a leap forward. I think we'll see a small 5-door coupe type sedan but with the rear doors camouflaged.
It's not a question of space but of sales area and to sell only on Europe is an enoooooooooormous mistake.
If they ever put their 1.2 like Dav said, sorry Fredo but it will be a disaster because if there is an engine to quickly throw in the trash and we will soon see PSA in court because of all the problems it brings and that PSA does not want to solve as they are dealing with Renault with its rotten 1.3!
It won't be the same Puretech since it is planned to pass the Euro 7 standard, will have a chain transmission (and not a wet belt, its current main weakness), a variable geometry turbo and a variable timing. I also think it will be a hybrid with an e-DCT automatic gearbox.
It would have been better to let FCA take care of the thermal part.
I agree, but the fact is that in Europe, when it comes to internal combustion engines and the automotive industry in general, it's Germany that rules. However, the 1.4 turbo of the Tipo is very reliable and offers good performances but it emits too much CO2. So they prefer to use a less reliable 3-cylinder engine that emits (on paper) less C02, because they don't have enough political clout.
Moreover, when it is necessary to supply a market where the roads are bad and reliability is paramount, such as Brazil, Peugeot equips its models... with the Firefly engine. That says it all.
Except that it is no longer Germany that makes the law or has always believed to do so because we can see how far they are from the west in terms of reliability and they are more and more taking bad slaps because in the diplomatic world or even on the Chinese continent we can see how much their sales are collapsing (in diplomatic missions, Maserati and Lexus have largely started to take over BMW, Mercedes and Porsche).
The Chinese now apparently prefer their local cars and find the German ones haas been!
Germany has always wanted to impose their law in the automotive industry all over the world (even if it means cheating like Audi did), but it has always been a failure.
So between Lexus that relegated them to second place in the US and the Chinese who are starting to want them more.... It smells like burning for the Teutons and I don't see how they're going to get out of it (and it's not VAG with its panic-stricken executives arriving in China that will change anything).
PSA should have continued to develop electric cars and left the thermal part to FCA which has much more developed and important capacities in this field.
Germany is the law in Europe, as we have seen with the end of the thermal models cancelled on the basis of a use of synthetic fuels not even industrialized.
I dream of the day when FCA will get its marbles back into the story and start to make us dream again.
Yes I agree with you Switzerland, if Fca could do as with gm and quickly divorce .....
I have no doubt that Lancia is capable of making a good car but considering the price of the current cars, I don't think they will break records, like the Tonale, I see very few of them in Lyon.
So the knowledge of fiat alfa Lancia, the quality of their dealerships, there is something to worry about Lancia and I insist especially with psa engines because gm has not taught them a lesson, nobody wanted the 159 and brera 1.9 or 2.2 jts while in 1750 they are much more appreciated in occaz.
You can even count the 3.2 which was a disaster even in terms of sales.
Indeed Dav, you are entirely right because I met only about ten of them.
The idea of producing less but better is really excellent but Stellantis has to understand that Lancia has to share its elements with Maserati... and not Peugeot because I don't see where there is any prenium on their average platform and when you want to impose your products, you must not hesitate to really put a lot of effort into the products and the after-sales service (you are still right on this point), like Lexus did.
The result?
They dismantled the Germans in the American, Canadian and other markets in less than 2 years and found themselves at the top of the charts at the speed of light.
Alfa started well with the Giulia and the Stelvio but the rest is history.... It smells like Lancia and Abarth!
At FCA, the main thing has never been the products but a service worthy of prehistory.
In Switzerland, all Quadrifoglio models are serviced... by Maserati at the customers' request.
We need Alfa, Lancia and Maserati dealerships that are all together and with very, very well trained staff from A to Z.
We can tell me what we want about PSA but we have seen what a serial killer they are (Chrysler Europe), so we will not make me believe at 45 years old that we make a donkey 🫏 a racehorse and that's exactly what Stellantis wants us to believe with Lancia by producing them... on DS or Peugeot electric or not!!!!
I don't mind if I repeat myself, but a brand like Lancia must be somewhere between an Alfa and a Maserati.
And as for the transformations, go and ask Lotus customers what they think of their brand now when the DNA is not respected? I don't give 10 years to Lotus before disappearing definitively, it's firm and irrevocable because no one wants to sign again and not even for the new Emira (which is however thermal), which will be a flop next to the Evora!
Lotus does not live only from sales, they make design office and prototypes for other manufacturers as did Matra automobile, but indeed the news does not make dream 😞
The other concern is that when the image has been degraded, it's complicated to sell giulia and stelvio at more than 50 or 60 000 €, then top of the range Lancia..........🤔🤔🤔
Lancia can use a common platform but it must remain a Lancia, when the soap they have still made strong at Fca, my Uconnect app is no longer active and the transfer to mopar connect does not recognize the giulietta, so I have a car at 34000 € at the time with options that they have just taken away from me since early 2023 🤔🤔🤔, already they do not know how to update a gps map.......
The best thing to do is to leave Alfa on the road to high-end sports, Lancia in the high-end luxury segment and Maserati in the luxury-sports segment. Too bad if we will be few to have the means but at least the durability of these 3 brands will be assured with time.
Now all 3 of them also have a huge card to play with historical models to restore and preserve as well as possibilities to create ultra-limited series models from their past.
The best thing to do is to leave Alfa on the road to high-end sports, Lancia in the high-end luxury segment and Maserati in the luxury-sports segment. Too bad if we will be few to have the means but at least the durability of these 3 brands will be assured with time.
Now all 3 of them also have a huge card to play with historical models to restore and preserve as well as possibilities to create ultra-limited series models from their past.
Any brand that starts from scratch (Alfa-Lancia) has always had a chaotic start (Audi is the perfect example) and the first models are only there to show the way. Once again, the problem with the Stelvio and the Giulia is the stupid malus and a service worthy of a brand like Lada.
If Lancia really wants to regain its place, the only way is to limit the number of sales at the beginning, to have an irreproachable after-sales service like Lexus and (even for Alfa) and a minimum reliability that is also on a par with Lexus.
Alfa the reliability of the Giulia and Stelvio are top of the line, just like the Giulietta but the after sales service is the worst in the world!!!!!!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
lotus engineering is, I grant you it, a company of RDH but which finds itself little by little detached from Lotus Cars because the speciality of the research part is the race and the research of the lightness.... All the opposite since their HyperCars.