At Stellantis they are clearly looking forward to it. The path to building more and more cars on the same platform seems to be a formula for success. Now they have quite a few car brands at the car manufacturer and they can do quite well. This time it’s Lancia’s turn. An iconic Italian car brand that could easily disappear from the market. Anyone who had predicted two years ago that a completely new Lancia Ypsilon, of course electric, would come onto the market in 2024 was considered quite crazy.
Tsunami of attention after photo leaks
But nothing could be further from this because the Lancia Ypsilon will indeed be launched in Europe. The announcement and the first images are a rollercoaster. How, in times of what-is-true-and-not-true on the internet, Lancia received a small tsunami of attention, completely unexpectedly, or precisely orchestrated to perfection, when a non-camouflaged (without the stickers) copy was fished out of a river in France that was allegedly stolen more than a month earlier due to a mysterious theft.
The French newspaper L’Est Républican (click here for the images) was apparently part of the plot and posted the unique images. It took a while, but then things took off on the internet. A brilliant move by the Italians, but given the location it smells of some French influences.
Lancia Ypsilon the most beautiful girl in the class
The Lancia Ypsilon is built on the platform that already houses a number of popular and well-scoring Stellantis models, including the Opel Corsa, the Peugeot 208 and the more luxurious DS 3. Multiple births from the same mother, but each with a different father. The father of the Ypsilon comes from Italy, that is immediately visible. When all those models stand next to each other, you don’t need much imagination to see that the new Ypsilon is already the most beautiful girl in the class. We still have to wait and see whether she will win the Miss Italy election, but she will certainly score well.
The iconic deep grille, Lancia’s trademark, has disappeared. In its place, a cool, shiny, slightly curved black strip has been added with a kind of T-shaped light bar. The Lancia brand is written out in large letters on the tailgate in the no longer original design style of recent years. This time not in a Helvetica style. It all looks in good Dutch, just nice.
The interior with a futuristic-looking digital instrument panel and a large touchscreen has been nicely chosen. What is striking is a kind of pizza-like (Italian eh) bulge on the center console, apparently intended for your gadgets and your McDonald’s order, who knows.
SALA something with light and sound
The Ypsilon is extra likeable for the future and is equipped with the SALA (Sound Air Light Augmentation) system. This should allow you to imitate a homely atmosphere at the push of a button or by talking yourself. It has nothing to do with a car, but it is fun.
Ypsilon will be Lancia’s first fully electric car with specifications that match all its sisters. It is no longer a hobbyhorse, the range simply no longer matters. Go for a nice drive, get used to the range and find out for yourself what you find useful to charge.
The range is no longer an issue with this Lancia Ypsilon
The only downside perhaps for the entire family remains the maximum charging speed of 100 kWh, which is never achieved. But it won’t matter if you have a home charger.
The Ypsilon clearly becomes the face of Lancia’s electric future. If you are stubborn enough to choose a classic combustion engine, be extra careful with it because this will more than likely be the last time you get a Lancia with a real exhaust pipe.
If this is your next car, be quick because only 1,906 copies of the Limited Edition Cassina will be built. A no-brainer because 1906 is indeed the year in which Lancia was founded. And furthermore, that new Lancia Ypsilon is simply a beautiful thing. DS will have competition.
