When FCA and PSA merged just a few years in the past, Stellantis promised to maintain all manufacturers in its huge portfolio. That features the troubled Lancia marque, which lastly has a brand new automotive within the 2024 Ypsilon. The fourth-generation mannequin is even getting the Excessive-Constancy therapy. Sure, HF is formally again. The dormant Italian firm is displaying off the Ypsilon HF, full with a rally by-product.
Whereas all earlier HF-badged automobiles had a combustion engine, the brand new Ypsilon HF is solely electrical. It presents 237 horsepower from a front-mounted motor, subsequently matching the Abarth 600e and Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce. That is no coincidence because the three automobiles share the Frequent Modular Platform (CMF) utilized by a number of different Stellantis merchandise. That features the not-for-America Jeep Avenger.
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The e-motor attracts its juice from a 54-kWh battery pack inherited from the Alfa Romeo and Abarth fashions. Lancia touts a 0 to 62 mph in 5.8 seconds, which is not too shabby for a small front-wheel-drive hatchback from a mainstream model. Apart from the upgraded electrical motor, the Ypsilon HF has a wider monitor and a lowered suspension for higher dealing with.
In the present day’s debut is technically a preview because the sizzling supermini will not go on sale in Europe till Could 2025. Lancia says all future fashions will profit from the Excessive-Constancy therapy, together with the revival of the Gamma and Delta set to reach later this decade.
The little elephant brand was first utilized in 1960 when house owners shaped a membership reserved just for individuals who had not less than six automobiles. HF Lancia Racing Staff was created in 1963 nevertheless it wasn’t till 1966 when the primary automotive obtained the legendary brand–the Fulvia Coupe HF.
Rally icons such because the Stratos HF and Delta HF Integrale Evolution acquired the little elephant throughout Lancia’s glory days. Legend has it the design of the brand was chosen as early as 1953 as a fortunate attraction by Gianni, son of firm’s founder Vincenzo Lancia and the automaker’s CEO between 1949 till 1955.
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Talking of rallying, the Ypsilon HF is joined by the Ypsilon Rally 4 HF. Not like the electrical street automotive, the motorsport variant makes use of a turbocharged gasoline engine. It is a three-cylinder, 1.2-liter unit with 209 hp on faucet. Because the race automotive’s identify suggests, it has been developed to adjust to FIA’s Group Rally4 rules.
Marking the return of Lancia to rally races after an extended hiatus, the Ypsilon Rally 4 HF can be front-wheel drive. It will get a five-speed gearbox with a mechanical limited-slip differential. It does not look all that totally different from the street-legal automotive as a result of rules stipulate it have to be largely primarily based on a manufacturing car. Group Rally4 was created in 2019 and is derived from the R2 class of Group R automobiles.
