Tag Archives: Lancia

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The Holy Trinity of Italian Genius — Stellantis Heritage Unleashes Lancia, Abarth, and Alfa at Bologna’s Auto e Moto d’Epoca

If you’ve ever wondered what Italian passion looks like distilled into metal, chrome, and the occasional whiff of burnt oil, Stellantis Heritage just handed you the answer on a polished silver platter. This year’s Auto e Moto d’Epoca in Bologna (October 23–26) won’t just be another nostalgia trip through Europe’s most glamorous automotive archive. No — it’s a full-blooded celebration of Italy’s obsession with beauty, bravery, and speed.

At the centre of the show? Three legends from the Stellantis vault, each representing a different decade, a different dream, and one relentless national instinct — fare di più. Do more. Push harder. Build faster.

From the hallowed halls of the Heritage Hub in Turin and the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, emerge three machines that defined eras and defied reason:

  • the Lancia D25 (1954),
  • the Fiat-Abarth 750 Record (1956), and
  • the Alfa Romeo Scarabeo (1966).

Together, they’re not just cars. They’re rolling testaments to what happens when engineering meets espresso-fueled insanity.

The Mission: Vision, Velocity, Victory

Under the watchful eye of Roberto Giolito, head of Stellantis Heritage and designer of the Fiat Multipla (yes, that one), the brand’s historical wing isn’t just dusting off museum pieces. It’s telling stories — stories about how Italy built cars not merely to move, but to matter.

As Giolito puts it, these machines “aren’t signs of the past, but tangible proof of the Italian drive to innovate with style, courage, and imagination.” Translation: these are the greatest hits of an era when design sketches were drawn with cigarettes and conviction.

Lancia D25 (1954) — The Race That Never Was

If Enzo Ferrari had a rival worthy of his jealousy, it was Vittorio Jano — the genius behind the Lancia D25. Born from the ashes of the Carrera Panamericana-winning D24, this car was the ultimate 1950s racer that never got its chance to show off.

With a 3.75-litre V6 producing 305 hp and a top speed kissing 300 km/h, the D25 could’ve eaten early Ferraris for breakfast. It had the kind of obsessive engineering detail that would make modern chassis designers weep: transaxle rear end, inboard brakes, independent suspension, and a spaceframe chassis that used the engine as a structural member.

But fate — and Formula 1 — intervened. Lancia pulled out of sports car racing, and the D25 never got its day in the sun. Only one example survived, wearing its Pininfarina body like a tailored Italian suit that never went out to dinner. Now, in Bologna, it finally gets the spotlight it deserves — a mechanical opera in 12 cylinders (well, six, but you get the point).

Fiat-Abarth 750 Record (1956) — The Bullet That Beat Time

If Carlo Abarth were alive today, he’d be the kind of man who sets an alarm just to break it. The Fiat-Abarth 750 Record, designed by aerodynamicist and styling sorcerer Franco Scaglione, was a wind-cheating bullet that looked more UFO than automobile.

Its job? Simple: humiliate the stopwatch.

In 1956, at Monza, it smashed six endurance records — including the 24-hour run, covering 3,743 km at 155 km/h average speed. A 750cc engine. One driver. And a whole lot of audacity.

This wasn’t just speed; it was science dressed in aluminium. The Record’s teardrop shape influenced generations of Abarth and Fiat models, proving that performance and beauty could occupy the same slender space. Even Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., son of the U.S. President, flew to Italy just to sign an exclusive deal with Abarth after seeing it. Because when Italy does small, it still does spectacular.

Alfa Romeo Scarabeo (1966) — The Rebel Prototype

And then there’s the Scarabeo. Even by Alfa Romeo standards, this 1966 prototype was pure mischief. It looked like a spaceship, sounded like a race car, and entered the world by flipping its entire roof forward instead of opening doors.

Under its O.S.I.-built skin lived the beating heart of a Giulia GTA — a twin-cam 1.6-litre four-cylinder — mounted transversely in the middle of the car. Radical? Absolutely. Functional? Shockingly so. The tubular chassis even used side members to store fuel tanks, a layout later echoed by Alfa’s racing prototypes.

It debuted at the Paris Motor Show that same year and immediately stole hearts (and headlines). The version on display in Bologna is the second prototype — with doors this time — and it remains an exquisite survivor from a time when Alfa didn’t just build cars; it built ideas on wheels.

Beyond Nostalgia

Between the Heritage Hub in Turin and the Museum in Arese, Stellantis isn’t merely keeping its past alive — it’s turning memory into momentum. Across 15,000 square meters of history, you’ll find engines, legends, and the sort of stories that make you believe the phrase Made in Italy still means something in metal.

So, if you find yourself in Bologna this October, skip the tortellini (just for an hour) and make a pilgrimage to where Italy’s golden era still hums. Three cars, three decades, one truth:

No one does beauty at speed quite like the Italians.

Source: Stellantis

CONCEPT CARS

Lancia Pu+Ra Montecarlo: A Ghost from Turin’s Golden Age

There are two types of car designers. The ones who carefully colour inside Stellantis’ corporate lines, making sure every plastic panel fits neatly with a budget brief. And then there’s Christopher Giroux, a senior Ford man who, in his downtime, decided to resurrect one of Italy’s most charismatic ghosts: the Lancia Montecarlo.

Yes, the Montecarlo — the rakish Pininfarina-penned coupe that arrived in 1975 with mid-engine mischief, rear-wheel drive, and the DNA that would go on to create the flame-spitting Lancia Rally 037, the last rear-driven car to ever beat Audi’s quattro in the WRC. Proper heritage. Proper romance. And Giroux thought: why not? It’s the 50th anniversary. Let’s bring it back.

The result is the Lancia Pu+Ra Montecarlo, and it’s equal parts retro postcard and sci-fi sketch. Think wedge-like profile, blacked-out nose, and T-shaped LED lights — the kind of thing you’d expect to see in Turin’s design studios after a long lunch of Barolo and cigarettes. Only here, the nostalgia has been filtered through Blender, Photoshop, and AI, which is either blasphemy or genius, depending on whether you still have Paolo Pininfarina posters on your bedroom wall.

From some angles, it looks like a glassier, sleeker Stratos. The front chin juts out with proper exotic swagger, while the roof gets circular cutouts like it’s been moonlighting as a Bauhaus experiment. Around the back, there’s a discreet spoiler, razor-thin lights, and a diffuser that seems to whisper: don’t worry, I’ll look fantastic in Martini stripes.

Speaking of which, Giroux didn’t just stop at the showroom fantasy. He built a full-blown Alitalia-liveried rally version, complete with gold alloys, swollen arches, and more intakes than a Dyson showroom. It’s a clear nod to the 037, but updated with LED daggers, a ducktail spoiler, and a diffuser that screams “I’m ready for Monte Carlo 1983, where’s my group B entry form?”

Of course, there’s one small problem: it doesn’t actually exist. No drivetrain, no chassis, no Stellantis green light. It’s a sketch, a digital passion project. Giroux hints at an EV layout — slim proportions, sealed surfaces — but he’s also teased exhausts and vented rear ends like it’s packing a mid-mounted turbo four. The truth is, it could be anything from a hairdryer to a hydrogen rocket.

And therein lies the tragedy. Because while Lancia is busy selling a single Ypsilon to pensioners and planning crossovers that’ll inevitably wear more chrome than soul, this Pu+Ra Montecarlo proves the brand could still build something with fire in its belly. Something worthy of the badge that once conquered rally stages and lit up Italian piazzas.

Will it happen? No. Stellantis has more spreadsheets than sports car dreams, and Lancia needs stable sales before Turin’s accountants let the word “coupe” into the boardroom. But still, Giroux’s vision is a reminder: the Montecarlo isn’t just history. It’s a challenge. A dare. A stylish ghost from the ’70s tapping Stellantis on the shoulder and whispering: remember what you used to be?

Source: Lancia

News

Lancia’s Rarest Unicorn Leads Festival Car 2025 in Revigliasco

On September 28, the hillside village of Revigliasco Torinese will once again trade its Sunday quiet for the growl, burble, and perfume of gasoline and leather. The Festival Car Concours d’Elegance is back for its fourth edition, and this year the little concours with big ambitions has made it onto the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens’ (FIVA) prestigious Premiere Event calendar—a stamp of approval that places Revigliasco alongside the world’s most important showcases of historic machinery.

That recognition comes with an expanded field: 80 cars will roll out for the Tour d’Elegance at 9 a.m., gathering first at the Royal Castle of Moncalieri—a UNESCO site and suitably regal launch pad—before tracing a sinuous route through the Turin Hills. From there, the convoy of Italian thoroughbreds, French exotics, and Anglo-German aristocrats will descend upon Revigliasco, where the cobbled streets transform into an open-air gallery of motoring heritage.

A Jury With Design in Its DNA

As with Pebble Beach or Villa d’Este, the competition isn’t just about polished chrome—it’s about pedigree, provenance, and design. Fittingly, the jury is stacked with automotive heavyweights, including Stellantis Heritage boss Roberto Giolito. Giolito, himself a designer and historian, has made a career out of safeguarding Italy’s rolling treasures. His presence underscores just how seriously the concours is being taken on the international stage.

The Star: Lancia Flaminia Loraymo

Every concours needs a centerpiece, and in 2025 Revigliasco has pulled out something bordering on mythical: the Lancia Flaminia Loraymo. Built in 1960 for the personal use of Raymond Loewy—the French-born American designer whose fingerprints are all over 20th-century culture, from the Lucky Strike pack to the streamlined Studebakers—the Loraymo is a one-off coupé that looks like no other Lancia.

Commissioned to Turin coachbuilder Rocco Motto with input from Nardi, the car reinterprets the Flaminia platform with Loewy’s futurist eye: a low, aerodynamic profile, exaggerated wheel arches, and that “smiling” grille that manages to look both playful and vaguely menacing. Unveiled at the 1960 Paris Motor Show, the Loraymo was met with equal parts fascination and bafflement. Today, it reads as an audacious leap ahead of its time—exactly what you’d expect from the man who also designed the Shell logo and Air Force One’s blue-and-white livery.

After following Loewy across the Atlantic and back, the car eventually returned to Italy thanks to the Lancia Club of America. Today it resides at the Stellantis Heritage Hub in Turin, where it sits among 300 other jewels in the “Concepts and Fuoriserie” collection. For Festival Car 2025, the Loraymo isn’t just attending—it’s the event’s mascot. It dominates the official poster, designed in partnership with IED Turin, and stars in the teaser video, filmed as it rolled out of Stellantis’ Officine Classiche workshops en route to Revigliasco.

Lancia Comes Home

The Loraymo’s presence feels almost like a homecoming. Piedmont has always been Lancia country, and this year the marque will be the most represented at the concours, with more than 20 examples spanning eras and body styles. For locals, it’s both a tribute and a reminder of Lancia’s once-unrivaled knack for innovation and elegance. For visitors, it’s a rare chance to see Turin’s automotive DNA written across decades of sheetmetal.

A Festival With Soul

What sets Festival Car apart isn’t just the machinery, but the setting. Revigliasco’s squares and streets, closed to traffic for the day, become a stage where motoring history rubs shoulders with village life. The effect is part concours, part time machine—a throwback to when automobiles weren’t museum pieces but cultural symbols of progress and style.

By securing its FIVA Premiere Event status, Festival Car 2025 signals that it’s no longer a regional gathering of enthusiasts but an international rendezvous worthy of a global calendar. With the Loraymo as its halo car and Lancia at the center of its narrative, this year’s edition looks poised to be its most evocative yet—a reminder that Italy’s contribution to car culture has always been as much about imagination as engineering.

Source: Stellantis