The brand that refused to die

Lancia's odds-defying revival starts with this car. KRIS CULMER drives it

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Until recently, Lancia was withering away on death row, reduced since 2017 to a single model in a single market. One could almost sense hard-headed FCA chief Sergio Marchionne's irritation as the Fiat 500-based Ypsilon continued to sell in droves. It's thanks only to Italian drivers' patriotism and indifference to needless expense and the latest tech that Lancia survived for long enough to be saved by Stellantis.

Credit must go to founding Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares for appreciating Lancia's value enough to hand the brand sufficient funding for a 10year revival of its core model lines.

Precisely what is that inherent value, though? That's what I'm hoping to discover, driving the new Ypsilon in Turin - home to the first factory that employed Vincenzo Lancia way back in 1898, the first site he opened under his own name and the famous Mirafiori plant, now also host to the Fiat and Lancia historic car collection.

The Ypsilon comes in Ibrida and Elettrica forms, and I've chosen the Elettrica, it being Lancia's first EV. The former uses a 99bhp mildhybrid 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol triple, the latter a 154bhp motor and a 51kWh battery. Those specs feel very familiar because they are, from the many small cars based on Stellantis's e-CMP platform.

The Ypsilon Elettrica drives virtually indistinguishably from a Peugeot 208 or Vauxhall Corsa EV, then. But I don't think that's a bad thing. Those cars have sold extremely well and the finer points of ride and handling aren't priorities for many buyers in this market.