This is the new Lancia Ypsilon Edizione Limitata Cassina, the first edition of Lancia’s new styling and car that it hopes to bring back to the forefront as a high-end, design-driven company after many years on the market. Only 1,906 numbered cars (a nod to the year the company was founded), all of them purely electric vehicles. The new Ypsilon, which will also go on sale at the same time, will be available in electric and hybrid versions, and will be followed by Delta styling in 2025 and the flagship Lancia Gamma in 2026.
Lancia Ypsilon Cassina Limited Edition
By involving the legendary furniture company in this launch edition, Lancia has made an ambitious intention. One of 14 brands in Stellantis’ barn, Lancia lagged behind its peers, with only one style available, a declining market share, and the fallout from an ill-fated alliance with Chrysler that went a long way toward diluting the company’s individualistic image.
Teresa Mendicino, head of logo design at Lancia, points out that “it’s the most important thing in terms of logo. “This included a new corporate identity and badge, as well as a new logo design language and product strategy for the cars themselves. .
Lancia Ypsilon Edizione Limitata Cassina, with blue velvet seats
“We’re a small team with a lot of passion,” says Mendicino. “We all came together and came up with a strategy to move to a premium tier, which we all felt Lancia belonged to. We want to conscientiously calibrate many other elements: what we call our “desirability codes”.
Lancia’s heritage is rich. Founded in 1906, it is technically avant-garde and stands out for the good looks of its cars, many of which were trained through the largest Italian coachbuilders. It was also a huge success in motorsports, especially rallying.
All of this makes the company a heavyweight in Italian culture, even if the truth about the company in the early 2020s is far from accurate. Mendocino and his team learned that each and every side of Lancia’s “renaissance” needed to be conscientiously coordinated. “There’s a lot of emotion in the photographs we use,” he explains, “which include architecture, product design, fashion, all elements of the Italian lifestyle. “
The “table” of the Lancia Ypsilon Edizione Limitata Cassina saddle
Cassina’s CEO, Luca Fuso, is excited about the new collaboration. After decades of creating and supplying creations from some of the most acclaimed designers of the 20th and 21st centuries, Cassina is now turning its attention to the design aspect. The Lancia Ypsilon Edizione Limitata Cassina not only marks the rebirth of the brand, but also the start of a design partnership with Cassina aimed at strengthening the Italian roots of both companies.
The Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept showcased the brand’s new design language
Gianni Colonello is the director of Lancia Interior Design. In addition to having initiated the collaboration with Cassina, his portfolio is enviable. ” “Even though it’s a very intense and short process, it’s really a unique task. “
Colonello describes how each member of his design team has their own vision for Lancia, but that “somehow everyone is aligned. “”We know that Lancia is very Italian but also has a very unique design technique,” he continues. “It’s a very cultural technique. ” Hence the paintings with Cassina.
The rear lights of the Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept are reminiscent of those of the Lancia Stratos
“Both brands are deeply rooted in Italy,” confirms Fuso. “Lancia called us with the idea of finding that long-lost spirit in Lancia cars. They used to call them “lounges on wheels”: very comfortable, powerful, but as charming on the inside as they are on the outside. Lancia sought out Cassina as its wife to shape this next-generation interior design.
Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept is a geometric composition
The process began in 2022, when Lancia defined its new distinctive identity. The first thing to do is to help shape the colours and fabrics of Lancia’s flagship, the 2023 Lancia Pu Ra HPE concept. “The concept of being comfortable in the car,” says Fuso, “and we also worked on things like the ‘coffee table’ in the middle of the car. “The Pu Ra concept represents the greatest successes of Lancia’s past, and everything is harmoniously integrated into a slender electric vehicle with minimal space. – Aged interior and bodywork referencing key cars, such as the wedge-shaped Stratos rally car of the 1970s.
Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept
“We insist on an architectural approach,” says Colonello. It’s a combination of classic, modern, and eclectic forms, all very eclectic. The ‘table’ was at the center of the process. ” This table detail started at concept, but now it’s a component of the new Ypsilon,” says Fuso. “This is where the collaboration between the two corporations took shape. “Finished in durable leather, the deep blue color is another familiar one. The Cassina team also went to great lengths to give the entire interior a sense of refinement and simplicity reminiscent of their high-end furniture.
Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept, the origins of the table element appear
“We asked Lancia to remove the chrome trim and update it with black, both on the outside and out,” says Fuso, who explains that the other main feature, the dark blue velvet seats with their ‘cannelloni’ striped cushion supports, “remind us of the Lancia models of the 1970s. The concept exaggerated those design elements, and Colonello describes how the “simple, geometric, and legible” volumes were transposed to the new Ypsilon, a highlight in the launch edition.
“Lancia and Cassina are examples of Italian excellence,” he says. Other inventions come with the debut of the S. A. L. A. infotainment formula. – “Sound, Air, Light and Magnification” – which centralizes audio, air and light controls.
The design of Casa Lancia’s new Showrooms
“We are very satisfied with the result,” says Fuso. I think we’ve created an atmosphere of tranquility. “The collaboration also extends to Cassina’s presence in Lancia’s new Brand Experience Centers, the first of which opened in Milan in 2023. These “Casa Lancia” spaces feature Cassina furniture and fixtures, as well as a carefully selected color palette.
Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept
The furniture manufacturer has already had some contact with automotive design. Mario Bellini’s iconic 1972 Kar-a-sutra built through Cassina, with its spacious, padded interior and wedge-shaped shape that preceded the minivan trend of the following decade (Bellini is also guilty of (the tryphophobic cause of the 1980 Lancia Trevi’s dash). The Pu Ra HPE concept is explicitly encouraged through the paintings of another Cassina stable designer, Vico Magistretti, whose Maralunga seats are evoked through the concept’s bold, thick front seats.
Interior of the Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept, with its Magistretti-inspired seats
For Colonello, Cassina’s involvement shows how Lancia can also adapt to its afterlife as it moves forward. “They still produce their antique furniture,” he says, adding that Lancia’s collection of historic cars is located just 50 meters from their Turin workshop. It is here that nine vintage cars from Lancia have been chosen and embodied in the shapes, colours and philosophy of the Pu Ra HPE concept. They include the sumptuous Flaminia, the influential Aurelia B20 GT, rally winners Delta and Stratos, the purist Fulvia and much more. .
Interior del Lancia Pu Ra HPE Concept
The Ypsilon is the first step in an ambitious ten-year plan to regain Lancia’s cultural importance. As partners, Cassina couldn’t be a better choice, indicating what the interiors will look like for the next generation of car buyers.
Lancia. com, @Lancia_Official
Cassina. com, @CassinaOfficial
Jonathan Bell has been writing for Wallpaper magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transportation design to books, generation, and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s transport and generation editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, adding Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.