Lancia at the 27th Bologna Motor Show

The Lancia stand is a monument to cutting edge design technology. With Lancia Style Centre designers working at their station in full view to show off all the tools at their disposal: from sophisticated computer programs to common or garden pencils. Despite the gulf that divides them, both tools are capable of breathing life into the formal language that has typified Lancia models since the time of the Dialogos.
Whether created on paper or on a computer screen, the sketch still weds innovation and tradition, sportiness and practicality. Although these dichotomies are apparently at odds with one another, expert hands know how to shape and join them to respect the eternal values encoded in Lancia's venerable DNA.
A heritage to be preserved, a gene pool for the design of future Lancia cars.
This principle is embodied by the Lancia Granturismo. The prototype, the result of a joint venture between the Lancia Style Centre, Studio Carcerano and Carrozzeria Maggiora, represents a meeting point between a quest for good looks and computerised and virtual technology. The combination of style and technology so typical of all Lancias through the ages is reflected in the stand layout.
On one side you can see top-quality materials such as walnut, white Carrara marble and mosaic inserts. On the other, imposing led screens display advanced graphics. Two workshops containing craftsmen at work remind visitors of Lancia's traditional commitment to workmanship and attention to detail. They are a well-known French lutanist intent on making a viola and a perfumer who makes up individual scents as he works. This is an apt way of introducing visitors to the chic, somewhat exclusive, somewhat alternative and mightily appealing world of Lancia cars.
The stand features three interesting newcomers. First and foremost, the Lancia Lybra Emblema, a special version distinguished on the inside by soft tobacco-coloured seats and on the outside by a black roof to match the body colour (an option exclusive to the Station Wagon version). René Gruau has lent his name and his fame as an artist and fashion designer to this sophisticated, quality car.
Two new editions of the Lancia Y are also on show for the first time: the Vanity special series and the revised LS. The LS is metallic black with a 80 bhp 1.2 16v power unit while both Vanity cars on show in Bologna are equipped with a 60 bhp 1.2 engine.
The line-up concludes with the Thesis and Phedra. A rotating stand in glass and stainless steel houses a Tintoretto Bordeaux-coloured 2.4 jtd Executive version of the range leader: the car built to offer customers the satisfaction of driving or being driven in an élite car. Alongside, another Thesis gives visitors an opportunity to admire spacious, well-lit areas with parts that yield to the touch made out of top-quality materials chosen not merely for their good looks but also for the sensory reactions they arouse. This is the 2.0 Turbo Emblema version in Palladian Grey. A third car stands on a mezzanine floor in the VIP area.
The area reserved for the Lancia Phedra is designed around a circular rotating stand similar to that of the Thesis. Here you can see a Bramante Red 94 kW (128 bhp) 2.2 jtd 16v. Alongside stands a 150 kW (204 bhp) 3.0 V6 24v version with an automatic transmission in Modigliani Beige.