We were already feeling dizzy when sizing up the bouquet of 12 brands from the Volkswagen group. That of Stellantis is no less so with 14 coats of arms to defend, and we wish Carlos Tavares, at the head of this multitude, to keep a part of the brain available for each of them. This seems to be the case since, instead of resigning in the face of the magnitude of the task, Stellantis wants to breathe new life into the sacred fire that made Lancia famous. Problem, this goes back a long, long way, in this case to the Stratos or the Delta HF and Intégrale. The Aurelia, Flaminia, Fulvia and even Beta HPE are buried in the memories of a few enlightened enthusiasts and bear witness to a rich past but also a history of chaotic episodes.
Considered as an adjustment variable in the Fiat group, of which it was supposed to defend the most bourgeois image, Lancia has always been caught in its contradictions by drawing brilliantly into the sporting field (rallying with the Stratos, 037 and Delta) , which was more the territory of Alfa Romeo, or even Maserati. The reiterated announcement of the return of Lancia, made at the end of 2022, was confirmed in recent days with the appearance in Paris, at the Italian embassy, of an astonishing prototype which seems to be more of a manifesto of the future of the brand only a preliminary draft intended for the series. So there’s a lot of design and marketing going into this Pu Ra HPE Concept, with the unpronounceable name, but that doesn’t matter since it won’t be for sale.
However, it lifts the veil somewhat on what Lancias will be tomorrow, we hope something other than a mediocre monoculture around the Ypsilon, which was its last model manufactured and sold in France until 2016. It will be the first relaunched in 2024, a completely different car which will use the electric bases provided by Stellantis alongside a single thermal version. We will perhaps find the new three-bladed grille of the concept at the front, but it will have to be adapted to pedestrian impact standards.
It is less likely that the interior furniture, 70% recyclable and designed by master fitter Cassina, will be renewed. It will rather be on the high-end Gamma, in 2026, that we will be able to see it sign an essential difference with its cousins which will inevitably be equipped with the same electric cells. Ciao, therefore, the engine with four opposed flat cylinders of the Gamma (1977-1984), which was one of the very rare, with Citroën, to copy a layout taken to the pinnacle by the Porsche 911, 6 cylinders this time.
We will then have to wait until 2028 to discover the electrically reinterpreted version of the Delta, an eternity for dealers’ mouths to feed with such a meager range. Lancia has chosen for its return, in addition to Italy, six historically receptive European markets: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. In France, 20 concessions will be named for 2024, 5 additional in 2025, and they will bring together 80 relay points. To see how Stellantis will manage these contracts while hoping that Lancia does not suffer a fate similar to that of Talbot (1979-1986), a failed renaissance by PSA which only lasted seven years.