Lancia. A story of ups and downs
One of the oldest automotive companies in the world, Italian Lancia Automobiles S.p.A., was established in 1906. During its long history, it has experienced both success and failure, ups and downs. Many Lancia models were popular in different years and brought glory and success to the company. The bright success made many Lancia models favorites for a long time if not forever! But the sucess itself did not last forever. Lancia cars are almost exotic today – you can hardly ever see them on the street, in fact, the actual lineup of Lancia cars was reduced to only one model, baby Ypsilon, B class front-drive hatchback.
Today, Lancia Automobiles belongs to one of the leaders of the world automotive market, Italian-American FIAT Chrysler Automobiles, which takes the 8th place in the world by car sales. Besides Lancia, FCA owns Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Maserati, Ferrari, and RAM brands.
After joining the FCA concern in 1969, Lancia managed to maintain its identity and independence for a while. It continued to develop new models on its own. Then appeared Lancia Stratos – the world’s first serial car, originally created for the rally. Lancia Delta designed by the legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro became famous for its numerous victories in the World Rally Championship and the title Car of the Year in Europe. There was also Lancia Gamma and Beta. But all this is nothing but history. New Lancia models do not appear yet, and the future of the brand is very vague. FCA itself is going through difficult times, so it doesn’t care about Lancia. And once it was FIAT that helped Lancia to originate.
The birth of the brand
It’s always a little sad to talk about past greatness. About yesterday’s glory and splendor and today’s oblivion. About the glorious past and humble present days. But if you believe, a miracle can happen! And the Lancia may surprise us all!
Vincenzo Lancia, the youngest son of the rich Italian industrialist, loved engineering since his childhood and spent all free time in the workshop of Giovanni Ceyrano, who released bicycles and developed the car of his own design. Young Vincenzo was an excellent engineer, his talent and resourcefulness were surprising even for experienced designers. When Ceyrano built his first car, which immediately became popular, orders for mass production were coming one after another. But his small workshop just couldn’t produce many cars. But he happened to meet Giovanni Agnelli, a patriot of his country and an enterprising officer. Delighted with the idea of an Italian car, Agnelli was able to attract the investors and create a new enterprise – Fabrica Italiana Automobili Torino, where the company Ceyrano entered. So, in 1899, FIAT appeared.
One of the oldest automotive companies in the world, Italian Lancia Automobiles S.p.A., was established in 1906.
And 18-year-old Lancia got the position of a test driver at FIAT. In virtue of his engineering talent, he always got the wrong operation of any mechanism. Being a skillful driver, Vincenzo became a FIAT racer. Out of forty races, he was the winner in 18! Mastery along with fearlessness and courage allowed Vincenzo Lancia not only to leave a noticeable mark in the motorsport but also to be considered one of the founders of the Italian racing school! However, the hotness and habit of squeezing racing cars dry sometimes led to breakdowns. This often disallowed a young pilot to bring a successful race to the end. While driving other people’s cars, racer and engineer Lancia, decided to make his own one. In 1906, the Lancia & C car factory appeared.
A year later, Lancia Tipo 51, aka 12 HP was born. The 4-cylinder engine developed 24 hp, which allowed the car to accelerate up to 90 km/h, and it was an impressive speed at that time. There were also curious engineering solutions: a patented stamped beam of the rear axle, drive chains were replaced by a shaft, independent handbrake and foot brake, and a high-speed engine. The public liked the car, and the Lancia began to receive orders one by one.
The history of naming Lancia models is interesting. Brother Vincenzo – Giovanni suggested to call each novelty with the letter of the Greek alphabet. For this reason, very soon Tipo 51 began to be called Lancia Alpha. By the way, the Lancia logo was invented by the real count - Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia, who at the request of Vincenzo, drew the logo in the form of a tree with the flag and the inscription Lancia on the steering wheel of those times. This Lancia logo reached us almost unchanged and only in 2007 was it stylized in a modern manner.
In 1915, Lancia began producing its first trucks – Jota. Its successful design and high demand are allowed to create the company on the basis of this truck a whole commercial range. And there was also a Theta model, which is known as the first truck with serial lighting. Almost all novelties of the Lancia company were popular. Almost all of them flaunted all possible original and innovative solutions that nobody has ever applied before.
In 1930, Vincenzo Lancia together with Gasparo Bona, Battista Pinin Farina, and Pietro Monatelli founded the Pininfarina bodywork studio. During his life, Lancia managed a lot: he became a famous driver, an innovative engineer, a skilled businessman, and a founder of his own car company, which was successful and promising for many decades. Vincenzo Lancia took part in many epoch-making events of that time: in the creation of the FIAT company, atelier Pininfarina, Monza racetrack, in the development of fundamentally new designs, successfully used in the automotive industry to this day.
Lancia took part in many epoch-making events of that time: in the creation of the FIAT company, atelier Pininfarina, Monza racetrack, in the development of fundamentally new designs, successfully used in the automotive industry to this day.
Probably, from the creation of successful serial model Lancia was distracted by motorsport where it tried to struggle with such rivals, as Ferrari? By participating in all the prestigious races of the time, the company tirelessly improved its technologies, struggled with failures, and won prizes. But after the death of Ascari, Lancia stopped participating in all races. All property, including sports cars, they gave to the Ferrari team. Ironically, on the modernized Lancia D-50, which received a surprising name Ferrari-Lancia, racer Juan Manuel Fangio won the championship. The tragic death was the beginning of a series of fateful events for the company. Lancia was endangered, the financial situation became difficult. And the Lancia family had to part with their brainchild.
Anyway, the life of the company continued! In 1957, Lancia Flaminia appeared and became the flagship of the model range. This famous almost 5-meter sedan was designed by the Pininfarina atelier, which on behalf of the Italian president prepared its long open version to meet Queen Elizabeth II, the limo has been called Lancia Flaminia Presidenziale. Moreover, two such open limos are still in solemn service. The elegant design and luxury style of Flaminia attracted many celebrities who wanted it for their garage. As a result, the model managed to stay in production until 1970, although the quantity was not so big. Now it can be rightfully considered one of the most high-end models of the Lancia brand.
Under Fiat’s wing
In 1969, having failed to withstand the financial load and the need for constant investment, Lancia passed under the control of the Italian car giant FIAT. It would seem that the story of Lancia should have ended there. But it did not! The years of glory are ahead of Lancia! Lancia Montecarlo Turbo took part in endurance races – 24 hours of Daytona, 1000 km of Nurburgring, 24 hours of Le Mans – and the championship title won twice! The famous Lancia Stratos has repeatedly won the World Cup. And Lancia Delta S4 with a 1.8 engine developed 480 hp and accelerated to one hundred in 2.5 seconds!
In the ‘80s of the 20th century, Lancia cars were so successful that their high level of sales helped the FIAT Concern to take the leading place among European carmakers, ahead of Volkswagen. Interestingly, on a wave of success, Lancia even entered a partnership agreement with Swedish SAAB, and for several years Delta was sold in Sweden, Finland, and Norway as Saab 600. By the way, Lancia collaborated with the PSA group – the result was the creation of not bad and very popular Minivan - 7-seat Lancia Zeta.
Open limo Lancia Flaminia Presidenziale of the Queen Elizabeth II is still at the service.
Superfast Delta won rally races six years in a row, setting a world record! Lancia Delta’s brilliant performances ended in 1993, but by that time it had become a cult-favorite car and seriously contributed to the success of the civil version. But there was also the real gem of Thema, especially its 8.32 version released in 1986, with the Ferrari 308 GTB V8 engine! With it, the Lancia Thema accelerated to a hundred in 6.8 seconds.
Listing all the Lancia models might take a long time. These models were popular at different times and brought fame and success to the company. But the FIAT Concern, the one that determined the origin of Lancia and contributed to the new revival of Lancia, almost stopped to finance and promote this luxurious and powerful Italian brand. Lancia has nearly ceased to exist and left only one Lancia model in production.
Knowing the legendary cars of this company, it’s hard to believe that such a rich and interesting history of this Italian brand, which has made a significant contribution to the development of the Italian and global automotive industry, is over! We hope for a full-scale revival of the Lancia brand in the future!
