This is the new Lancia Ypsilon Edizione Limitata Cassina, the debut edition of Lancia’s newest model and the car it hopes to bring it back to prominence as a design-led, premium company after many years in the wilderness. Just 1906 numbered cars will be made (a nod to the company’s foundation year), all of which will be pure electric vehicles. The new Ypsilon, which also goes on sale at the same time, is available as an EV and a hybrid, and will be followed by the Delta model in 2025 and the flagship Lancia Gamma in 2026.
By involving the legendary furniture company in this launch edition, Lancia has made a bold statement of intent. One of the 14 brands in the Stellantis stable, Lancia lagged behind its peers, with only one model available, a shrinking market share and the fall-out from an ill-fated tie-in with Chrysler that did much to dilute the company’s individualist image.
Teresa Mendicino, Lancia’s head of Brand Design, points out that it ‘had to do the most in terms of branding’. This included a new corporate identity and badge, as well as an all-new design language and product strategy for the cars themselves.
‘We’re a small team with a lot of passion,’ says Mendicino. ‘We all sat together and strategised about moving to a premium level, where we all felt Lancia belonged. We have to carefully calibrate many different elements – what we call our “codes of desirability”.’
Lancia’s heritage is rich. Formed in 1906, it was technically innovative and famed for the beauty of its cars, many of which were shaped by Italy’s greatest coachbuilders. It was also hugely successful in motorsport, particularly rallying.
All of this adds up to create an Italian cultural heavyweight, even if the reality of the company in the early 2020s was way off the mark. Mendocino and her team realised that every facet of the Lancia ‘renaissance’ would have to be carefully co-ordinated. ‘There is a lot of emotion in the imagery we use,’ she explains, ‘which includes architecture, product design, fashion – every element of the Italian lifestyle.’
Cassina’s CEO Luca Fuso is enthusiastic about the new collaboration. After decades of manufacturing and supplying designs by some of the 20th and 21st century’s most acclaimed designers, Cassina has now set its sights on another strand of design. The Lancia Ypsilon Edizione Limitata Cassina not only marks the rebirth of the brand, but the start of a design partnership with Cassina aimed at strengthening both company’s Italian roots.
Gianni Colonello is head of Lancia Interior Design. In addition to initiating the partnership with Cassina, his portfolio is an enviable one. ‘Although it’s been a very intense and short process, this is a real one-of-a-kind job for a designer,’ he says, ‘you don’t often get the chance to start from the ground up.’
Colonello describes how each member of his design team has their own vision of Lancia, but that ‘somehow they are all aligned’. ‘We know that Lancia is very Italian but that it also has a very unique approach to design,’ he continues, ‘it’s a very culture-led approach.’ Hence the work with Cassina.
‘Both brands are deeply rooted in Italy,’ Fuso concurs. ‘Lancia called us with the idea of uncovering this long-lost spirit in Lancia cars. They were once known as “living rooms on wheels” – very comfortable, high performance, but also beautiful inside and out. Lancia wanted Cassina to be their partners in helping shape this new generation interior design.’
The process started in 2022, around the time that Lancia was setting out its new and distinct identity. The first order of business was to help shape the colours and materials of Lancia’s statement piece, the 2023 Lancia Pu+Ra HPE Concept. ‘The idea was to be at home in the car,’ says Fuso, ‘and we also worked on elements like the “coffee table” in the middle of the car.’ The Pu+Ra concept represents the greatest hits of Lancia’s past, all smoothly blended into a svelte EV with a minimal, space-age interior and a body that references key cars like the wedge-shaped Stratos rally car of the 1970s.
‘We pushed for an architectural approach,’ Colonello says. ‘You can really see the structure. It’s a mix of classic, modern and eclectic forms – all very eclectic.’ The ‘table’ was central to the process. ‘This table element started in the concept, but it has become part of the new Ypsilon,’ says Fuso. ‘It’s the place where the collaboration between the two companies really took shape.’ Finished in hard-wearing saddle leather, the deep blue colour is another familiar Lancia trope. Cassina’s team were also deployed to give the whole interior a sense of refinement and simplicity that evoked their high-end pieces of furniture.
‘We asked Lancia to take out the chrome trim and replace it with black, both inside and out,’ says Fuso, who explains the other major feature – the dark blue velvet seats with their ‘cannelloni’ striped cushion supports – ‘reminded us of the Lancia models from the 1970s.’ The concept exaggerated these design elements and Colonello describes how ‘simple, geometric and readable’ volumes were carried through into the new Ypsilon, a fact highlighted by the launch edition.
‘Lancia and Cassina are examples of Italian excellence,’ he says. Other innovations include the debut of Lancia’s S.A.L.A. infotainment system – ‘Sound, Air, Light and Augmentation’ – which centralises controls for audio, air and light.
‘We’re very happy with the result,’ says Fuso. ‘I think we’ve really conveyed a relaxed atmosphere.’ The collaboration also extends to Cassina’s presence in Lancia’s new Brand Experience centres, the first of which was opened in Milan in 2023. These ‘Casa Lancia’ spaces include Cassina furniture and fixtures, as well as a carefully composed colour palette.
The furniture maker has had a few brushes with automotive design in the past. Mario Bellini’s iconic Kar-a-sutra from 1972 was built by Cassina, with its spacious, padded interior and wedge-shaped form that predated the next decade’s MPV trend (Bellini was also responsible for the trypophobically triggering dashboard of the 1980 Lancia Trevi). The Pu+Ra HPE Concept drew explicit influence from the work of another designer from the Cassina stable, Vico Magistretti, whose Maralunga armchairs are evoked by the concept’s bold, chunky front seats.
For Colonello, Cassina’s involvement showcases how Lancia can also accommodate its past whilst still moving forwards. ‘They still produce their classic pieces of furniture,’ he explains, adding that Lancia’s collection of historic vehicles is just 50m from his studio in Turin. It was here that nine classic cars from Lancia’s past were selected and distilled into the forms, colours and ethos of the Pu+Ra HPE Concept. They include the luxurious Flaminia, the influential Aurelia B20 GT, the rally-winning Delta and Stratos, the purist Fulvia and more.
The Ypsilon is the first step in an ambitious ten-year plan to bring the Lancia name back to cultural prominence. As partners go, Cassina couldn’t be more perfectly chosen, indicating just how important interiors are going to be to the next generation of car buyers.
