Lancia Ypsilon 30th Anniversary & Elle Editions - Geneva International Motor Show 2015

Lancia.

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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FIAT Panda K-Way - A Tribute To The Waterproof Jacket... | Geneva International Motor Show 2015

K-Way. In 1965, Leon Claude Duhamel invented the lightweight, nylon, pac-a-mac and thus the K-Way brand was born.

What has this got to do with a Fiat Panda? Well, absolutely nothing, which is why I’m a little confused as to why they have launched the FIAT Panda K-Way Special Edition. On show at the 2015 International Geneva Motor Show, the K-Way celebrates 50 years of the pac-a-mac in all the ways you would expect and some you really wouldn’t.

I was anticipating some K-Way badging (check), the orange wing mirrors (check) and a special blue hue (check). But FIAT have gone over and above the usual name and a sticker limited edition sales technique.

Firstly, the top of the dash is also a similar shade of blue to the exterior and, oh-my-word, just look at those seatbelts! Coloured in the same way as the famous zip on a K-Way jacket, they are orange and yellow, striped. Certainly, you will stand out from the crowd!

In the rear, though, is something quite weird. I can’t quite decide if it’s cool or not. Clearly for children, there is a K-Way bag zipped on to the rear of the front seats. The kids can fill it up with all sorts of journey essentials, and no doubt un-zip, re-zip and un-zip again ad infinitum for the whole trip. In fact, for reasons I’m not sure why, the whole rear of the seats can also be zipped off (presumably to wash mucky fingerprints off..?)

So, in summary then. It’s odd, a bit gaudy, unrelated to waterproof jackets and yet I applaud FIAT for going the extra mile. The thing is, I can’t help but think the time and money spent on this could have been put towards a spiritual successor to the 100hp? Now that would go well alongside the upcoming 124 Spider! Be sure to check out the quick video below too.

Why not read: An Old Name Returns & A Strange New One Emerges - Opel Karl/Vauxhall Viva - Geneva International Motor Show 2015