 | |
 Palazzo Lancia, former company headquarters | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 27 November 1906 |
| Founder | Vincenzo Lancia |
| Headquarters | Turin, Italy |
Area served | Italy |
Key people | John Elkann (Chairman, Stellantis) Luca Napolitano (CEO) |
| Products | Automobiles |
Production output | 43,076 (2020) |
| Parent | Stellantis Europe |
| Website | www |
Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. (Italian: [ˈlantʃa]) is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but its history is traced back to Lancia & C., a manufacturing concern founded in 1906 in Torino by Vincenzo Lancia (1881–1937) and Claudio Fogolin. It became part of Fiat in 1969.
The brand is known for its strong rallying heritage, and technical innovations such as the unibody chassis of the 1922 Lambda and the five-speed gearbox introduced in the 1948 Ardea.[1] Despite not competing in the World Rally Championship since 1992, Lancia still holds more Manufacturers' Championships than any other brand.
Sales of Lancia-branded vehicles declined from over 300,000 annual units sold in 1990 to less than 100,000 by 2010. After corporate parent Fiat acquired a stake in Chrysler in 2009, the Lancia brand portfolio was modified to include rebadged Chrysler products, for sale in most European markets. In the United Kingdom and Ireland however, Lancias were rebadged as Chryslers. As sales continued to drop the Lancia-badged Chryslers were no longer offered after 2015. Since then, the company's only product has been the Lancia Ypsilon, and sales outside of Italy ended in 2017. Despite Lancia's much smaller brand presence, the Ypsilon continues to be popular in Italy; in fact it was the second best-selling car there in 2019.[2]
The newly merged Franco-Italian-American company Stellantis stated that it would try to revive Italy's Lancia, with the move also suggesting there would be more than one model for the brand,[3] as well as sales outside of Italy for the first time in years.[4][5][6]
- ^ Malan, Andrea (19 October 2019). "Lancia passes Fiat ownership landmark but no celebration for storied brand". Automotive News Europe. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
- ^ "Le auto più vendute in Italia nel 2019". 4 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ Michael Taylor (14 June 2021). "Stellantis Pulls Legendary Italian Brand Lancia Back From The Brink". Forbes.
- ^ Angel Sergeev (2021-11-09). "Lancia To Sell Cars Outside Of Italy Starting In 2024". Motor1.com.
- ^ Luca Cifferi (2022-04-07). "Lancia to prepare for sales outside of Italy by naming country managers". Automotive News Europe.
- ^ "Stellantis aims for 50% of sales online at relaunched Lancia". Reuters. 2022-05-20.