Say that brand to any really car enthusiast and you will almost certainly fall asleep, such will the automotive fan's evangelising bore you. Go away, make a sandwich and a mug of Early Grey, and upon your return they will still be rabbiting on about consecutive world rally titles, crazed executive salons with Ferrari engines and oodles of pizazz that "you just don't get any more".
They're not wrong, sadly.
A quick visit to the Lancia (pronounced 'Lan-cha' and not to be confused with Dacia. At all. Ever.) stand at the 2015 Geneva International Motor Show will see you will be greeted with not one, but two special editions, both premièring at the motoring event. These are the Ypsilon 'Elle' and the Ypsilon 30th Anniversary.
The former of which encapsulates, and I quote Lancia directly, "a special series that will act to boost the car which Italian women love more than any other". Crikey. They've shown this model before, but now it is in a fancy white colour with 16" diamond-cut effect alloy wheels (onus on the word effect, there), chrome flourishes and a "Houndstooth" pattern on the pillars. Quite.
Then, we move on to the 30th Anniversary which celebrates, oddly enough, 30 years of the Ypsilon model. Although, if we are being a bit anal, the stated 30 years includes 10 years of the Y10 model. But, we will let them off stretching the nomenclature a little because, rejoice, the 30th Anniversary Ypsilon features 4 wheel drive, a turbo, 250bhp and, oh, no, none of those. What you do get is a new lick of paint on an ageing supermini. Ultramarine Blue, to be precise. Otherwise, fairly standard here, with means a choice of 1.2 in Petrol or LPG guises, a 0.9 Turbo Multi-air unit with Petrol or Methane fuel and even the choice a 1.3 diesel.
The Lancia brand feels well and truly forgotten by it's FIAT/Chrysler overlords, thanks to a lack of new or exciting cars, and worse, the word on the street is that it may be boiled down to a single car range in the next couple of years.
So sad. The company represents so much, yet magazine-branded and newly-painted average small cars are all that is left. The stand at Geneva is a solemn reminder of how the mighty have fallen. I dearly long for a return to form. Please.
Why not read: FIAT Panda K-Way - A Tribute To The Waterproof Jacket... | Geneva International Motor Show 2015
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