Lancia will be represented at the Paris Motor Show by a stand that celebrates the brand’s centenary with a flight of imagination: a veritable Maison Lancia fashion house with the entire Lancia range strutting its stuff on the catwalk at the French motor show. Treats in store include the New Lancia Ypsilon, the Musa, the Thesis, the Phedra and the Delta HPE concept car.

These fabulous creations are among the best exponents of designer Italy style. For all the world like gorgeous jewels or couture clothing to be picked out and tried on at the Lancia boutique, an establishment resplendent in glossy black flooring, top-quality stainless steel detailing and wall designs in subtle contrasting colours.

The world of fashion is only one of the areas, together with design and cinema, in which Lancia has organised major events to celebrate its Centenary. For example, Lancia made available a fleet of one hundred customised Ypsilons to Moda Milano for use by models taking part in the fashion shows staged from February to September. Lancia also took part in the 63rd Venice International Film Festival and sponsored Lancia Tour Italian Design, a travelling show that juxtaposed fabled Lancia cars with items famous in the history of Italian design. During the first week of September, Turin was also the setting for the 2006 Lancia Club Turin International Meeting, which welcomed more than three hundred period Lancia cars from all over the world.

Many events are planned with the specific aim of publicising Lancia’s legendary history – made up of the cars, designers, races and engines that have studded the history of technological progress and motor sport through the twentieth century – and also its determination to play a leading role in the future. This is the clearest possible confirmation of the vitality of a brand that has succeeded throughout its one hundred year lifetime in maintaining its identity as a manufacturer of cars that are a blend of comfort, elegance and state-of-the-art technology. Lancia will call on the same spirit and goals as it goes forward into the future, continuing to offer us new, top-quality cars. An example? The incontestable star of the stand: the Lancia Delta HPE concept car, a prototype representing an updated shooting brake version of the Lancia Beta HPE - an original design concept dating from the second half of the 1970s – that encapsulates the very best Lancia qualities: quality of life on board, plenty of room for driver and passengers, original body features, interior design, use of top-quality material, advanced technology for great comfort, performance and safety.
 

The second focus of the stand is naturally the New Ypsilon, which marks Lancia’s first step towards a new future. All the distinction and prestige of a top-drawer élite car with the handling of a mini: this, in a nutshell, is the Lancia Ypsilon, a model that combines styling excellence with state-of-the-art engineering. Just like all the very best Italian luxury products that have made names for themselves throughout the world. The New Ypsilon has been designed and built for customers who love to make an impact with exclusive products and seek user satisfaction first and foremost in their cars.

Visitors to the show will also be drawn to the Musa Collezione Centenario that pays homage to Lancia’s tradition - the tradition that guides our stylists and designers in their everyday work - and also our natural vocation to be first in terms of equipment, engineering and power units. This is the spirit behind the exclusive Centenary custom version with its unmistakable ‘b-colore’ body and an original commemorative logo on the pillar, complemented by all the state-of-the-art technology that is packed into the Musa model: including the 1.3 Multijet engine (voted ‘engine of 2005’) an innovative DFN gearbox, a generous Gran Luce sunroof and a Bose® sound system.

The line-up of cars at the French motor show is completed by the Lancia Thesis and Lancia Phedra, the best possible combination of style and innovation in a car. Visitors to the Paris show will be able to admire the latest incarnation of the Thesis, now with a new 185 bhp 2.4 Multijet engine, even more sophisticated new interiors and original exterior details. The car exhibited on the stand also features a ‘b-colore’ body and is customised with the logo of the 63rd Venice Film Festival. During the days following the opening, visitors will also be able to admire a Phedra equipped with a powerful 2.0 JTD power unit and the 7-seater version of the Emblema Plus specification, i.e. the best possible exponent of the Italian art of living.

The Musa and Thesis naturally sport the original Centenary logo: the number 1 followed by ‘∞’ to represent a double zero and also the mathematical symbol of infinity. This strong emblem encapsulates the past, the present and the future. Because celebrating one century of life is not a simple nostalgia trip but a starting point for new challenges. This philosophy is ably represented by the Paris show stand, which is packed with new products but also proud to evoke past glories. Not to mention the fact that the ‘b-colore’ livery so typical of great Lancia cars of the past now makes a comeback on the latest models through a laborious painting process: once it was a crafted feature within the reach of a few but now Lancia offers it even on its pocket flagships, the Musa and Ypsilon. Lancia’s venerable chromosomes seem to make it better equipped than others to meet the needs of customers who know about technology but are also aware of the value of tradition; who demand product substance but also exclusivity and prestige.