Four examples of the New Lancia Ypsilon will line up on the French catwalk at the Paris Motor Show when it opens to the public on 30th September. The new model made its press debut last week in Venice and goes on sale next month.

The first is an Argento version in blue with a grey interior. The car, equipped with the tried and tested 60 bhp 1.2 8V engine, offers ABS, 2 front airbags, manual climate control system, Dual Drive electric power steering, two rear head-restraints. The list of options that enhance this version include foglights and 15" alloys plus Blue&Me®, the sophisticated Windows Mobile-based system produced through a joint venture between Fiat Auto and Microsoft.

The second pocket flagship is equipped with a new 95 bhp 1.4 16 valve engine and equipped with the DFN (‘Dolce Far Niente’) robotised sequential gearbox. The performance figures are outstanding: top speed of 175 km/h and 10.9 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h. In the Oro specification, the car features a warm, bright body-colour (Bordeaux) combined with a passenger compartment with stylish Beige trim. The vehicle on show also offers the following standard equipment and options: ABS, 4 airbags, rear seat with separate slide and tilt (three seats and three head-restraints), Granluce sunroof, radio controls on the steering wheel, dual zone automatic climate control system, radio with CD and MP3 file player and foglight.

The ‘b-colore’ paintwork that has been a perennial feature of Lancia cars and is now achieved through a long and complex painting process, is honoured at the Paris show by two cars with ‘b-colore’ livery powered by the lively 1.3 Multijet 16V engine plus a manual gearbox. More specifically, the former comes with the Oro specification and its upper part in Blue and lower part in Light Grey (the interior is resplendent in Blue trim). The latter is a Platino version with a sophisticated body-colour combination (Bordeaux and Pearlised) offset by a Bordeaux interior. The New Ypsilon Oro also offers ABS, 4 airbags, manual climate control system, Granluce sunroof, radio with CD player and foglight. The car on show also offers major options such as a Bose® Hi-Fi, 15" alloys, ‘b-colore’ micalised paintwork, an MP3 player and radio controls on the steering wheel.

The second ‘b-colore’ car (Platino) is even more opulent than the first with a dual zone automatic climate control system, leather steering wheel and gearknob (other options fitted to this car include a map navigation system and 16” ‘b-colore’ alloys).

All the attributes of the model

The New Ypsilon model, designed for demanding customers, has reinvented itself by building on an exterior look much appreciated by European motorists and an underlying nature with a distinctive personality that relies on the appeal of innate good looks and style. The model has also evolved to offer more performance, more technology and more customisation options.

The New Ypsilon offers a better-looking, more up-to-date style by adding a few clever touches that reflect new market trends while making the car look bigger to appeal to male drivers. The New Ypsilon also comes with new petrol and diesel engines to cater for younger, more dynamic customers. These are all environmentally friendly with plenty of brio and power. The New Ypsilon is also a veritable style icon for its personality and charm, now enhanced by the most extensive colour palette in this segment: the very thing for the style conscious woman. The model also features a truly extensive range of very different alternatives, also evidenced by no fewer than four specification levels (Argento, Oro Bianco, Oro Giallo and Platino), which will be able to satisfy premium customers of four types, each with their own tastes and needs: men, women, the young and the not so young. The New Ypsilon aims to become the Premium B option for everyone throughout Europe since it represents the state-of-the-art in the exclusive mini field.

It is designed for sophisticated customers who love to stand out in a crowd and seek satisfaction above all when using their car. And, like all the best Italian luxury products, the New Ypsilon blends outstanding style with cutting-edge technology. This winning combination is complemented by highly sophisticated good looks that give a new feel to the famous Lancia shape, perfectly matched specifications and many customisation possibilities.

The New Ypsilon yet again demonstrates the great versatility of the pocket flagship formula. This successful model will take Lancia forward into a new era where manufacturers cannot rely on the product alone to give their cars an edge over their rivals. Neither will the product be the only motivating factor to attract potential customers. For this reason, Lancia has developed major new sales and aftersales products to satisfy the desires, needs, tastes and aspirations of a host of different customers.

New styling for the ultimate in customisation

The New Ypsilon is identifiable by its original styling, based on that of the Ardea from 1939 and fully attuned to contemporary trends that demand a smooth, sensual design. It is also distinctive due to its compact size, high driving position and very elegant lines and detailing. Prominent new features on the model include an original grille and special mouldings that are different for each specification. In detail, the sporty grille on the Argento version is in metalluro while the grille and side mouldings are chrome on the Oro Bianco and Oro Giallo specifications. Lastly, the Platino version offers a chrome grille with hot stamped detail and chrome side mouldings. Another new external attraction of the New Ypsilon is a colour range made up of no fewer than 15 body shades that emphasise the model’s smooth lines still further (7 brand new) and 9 new ‘b-colore’ liveries: this is the most extensive range in the segment, and one of the most extensive overall: more evidence of Lancia’s attention to colour as a representation of style and Italian flair. As far as the Ypsilon is concerned, colour is not merely a matter of superficial looks but an integral part of a product philosophy based on elegance, glamour, personality, playfulness, skill, style and the widest potential for customisation.

The interiors also welcome the passengers and driver into an emotionally involving environment, but also a practical, up-to-date passenger compartment to assure maximum comfort. These sensations are aided by the particular care that has gone into the details, the use of top-quality deluxe car materials and the creation of sophisticated, stylish colour matches between the body shades and interior trim colours. These features are unique to the segment and make the ‘Ypsilon’ logo a veritable designer icon.

Sophisticated technology and better performance

The New Ypsilon assures predictable performance at all times while also guaranteeing driving satisfaction. This is partly due to the five available engines that are now even more powerful and spirited with respect for the environment: the coming into force of EURO4 legislation will see the advent of a DPF device that adjusts emission levels by removing particulate altogether. In detail, the new engine range offers two Multijet power units (a 75 bhp 1.3 16v unit and a 90 bhp 1.3 16v unit), both combined with a manual gearbox or a robotised sequential unit known as the DFN (standing for ‘Dolce Far Niente’).

These two turbodiesel units are joined by two feisty petrol engines: a 95 bhp 1.4 16v unit available with manual gearbox or DFN robotised sequential gearbox; and the new 77 bhp 1.4 8v unit available only with manual gearbox. The latter power unit is also one of the most frugal in its category. 5.5 l/100 km over a combined cycle. The last member of the range is the tried and tested 60 bhp 1.2 8v unit able to combine great torque and smooth operation with a relatively small cylinder capacity.
 

The most recent addition to the Lancia stable is no stranger to sophisticated technology and may be equipped with ‘Blue&Me’, an innovative Windows Mobile based system created as a result of a joint venture between Fiat Auto and Microsoft. This changes the paradigms of in-car communication, information and entertainment to improve comfort and the quality of time spent on board. The easy to use device includes a sophisticated hands-free system with voice recognition that allows customers to make/receive phone calls and listen to music while driving easily and safely.

Bluetooth technology also makes it possible to communicate with the outside world from the car through personal devices such as mobile phones and hand-held computers. The Blue&Me device also allows customers to listen to their favourite music recorded on their mobile phones, smart phones, MP3 players or USB drives. This is achieved via a USB port on the tunnel that can be used to connect any digital device with a USB connection, allowing musical audio files (MP3, WMA and WAV) to be played directly through the stereo system.

Four Ypsilons for four customers

It is no exaggeration to claim that anyone can find a New Ypsilon to suit their requirements and tastes. Suffice it to say that the pocket flagship can come in more than 700 custom versions, obtained by combining 15 body shades, 4 specifications (Argento, Oro Bianco, Oro Giallo and Platino), 9 new ‘b-colore’ liveries, 8 interior trims and 6 different alloys (including those available from the Accessory range). Whatever your choice and level of customisation, the New Ypsilon is always appealing and original, with the world-renowned Italian flair for design.

In detail, the New Ypsilon Argento is aimed mainly at the young, giving them an opportunity to buy into an accessible dream. The new version features an extensive range of bright single and ‘b-colore’ livery with powerful contrasts, plus a painted grille and satinised exterior panels. The passenger compartment is also a cool and pleasant place with ‘b-colore’ hi-tech fabrics plus customisable eco-leather inserts. Features include body-coloured door mirrors, wiring for a car radio and, as options, a manual air conditioner and two packages designed for specific target users (Argento Plus and Tech).

The second specification, Oro Bianco, is ideal for men who go for sportiness with style. Such customers will appreciate single-colour and ‘b-colore’ liveries in cool shades, a grille with a chrome frame, chrome exterior panels and chrome moulding on the sides. The same sporty feel is evident inside, with the use of hi-tech Airtex fabric. The New Ypsilon Oro Bianco can also be equipped with all the available engines, but the top power levels really show its attributes to the full: the 90 bhp 1.3 16v Multijet and the 95 bhp 1.4 16v Multijet.

The New Ypsilon Oro Giallo, a real benchmark for women, offers a high level of customisation that confirms and reinforces the image of a mini with style. Beginning with an exterior that features single-colour and ‘b-colore’ liveries in warm shades and also a few chrome details: exterior panels, side mouldings and the grille frame. The interior also features a fashion fabric known as Centorighe while the engine range includes a 77 bhp 1.4 8v unit and a 75 bhp 1.3 Multijet 16v unit, both category leaders for their power/fuel consumption ratio. Another product particularly appreciated by customers is the sophisticated DFN gearbox that offers the greatest comfort in automatic mode, once you have experienced all the satisfaction of a sporty, dynamic drive in manual. The Oro Bianco and Oro Giallo specifications also offer: Radio CD, manual climate control system and the optional Oro Plus and Tech packages.

The New Ypsilon Platino reinforces its pocket flagship positioning by appealing to a more mature segment of customers. This vocation is evident in elegant, sophisticated one and ‘b-colore’ shade on shade liveries, new 15” alloys and some chrome details (exterior panels, mouldings on the side and grille), interiors trimmed in Starlight leather/Alcantara and a range of equipment that is bound to appeal by any standards, including a radio CD with Hi-Fi, leather trimmed steering wheel and gear knob and, as options, Platino Plus Pack, Bose® Hi-Fi Pack and Granluce sunroof plus all four new engines.

The New Ypsilon is quite definitely a model that can be said to come in four different versions for four different customers. Four different finance packages are also on offer. For example, the young thirty-something target group made up of many professionals and self-employed people can benefit, in Italy, from a product based on the‘LanciaPiù’ purchase system, i.e. a minimum deposit, low instalments for 25 months, the certainty of a guaranteed value at the end of the contract and a wide final choice (buy a new Lancia, keep the car or return the car). For young people aspiring to join the world of Ypsilon for the first time, ‘Lancia Più’ is also available without a deposit

Specific service packages have also been developed to meet the needs of a diverse and demanding range of customers. Fire and theft insurance, fully comprehensive insurance, roadside rescue etc.  Young German customers can also benefit from long-term purchase packages with no deposit and low instalments plus a new special offer: payment in three stages (1/3 on purchase, 1/3 after one year and 1/3 at the end of the second year). Private customers in France can benefit from a hire scheme with maintenance and roadside assistance included. All potential customers of the New Ypsilon can therefore find their own specific service package tailored to their needs.

Success consolidated in time

Any car’s success is the result of a lucky break, a flash of stylistic intuition backed by research into new taste trends, emerging customer needs and projections relating to market and rival model trends. And then this complicated equation is judged by the harshest yardstick: time. Real success will stand the test of time. This was never truer than for the Lancia Ypsilon, a car that has notched up sales of one and a half million in more than 20 years of life and several different incarnations (Y10, Y and Ypsilon). And more. Since the launch of the Ypsilon in 2003, the tiny flagship has achieved sales of over 200,000, of which 35,000 in 2006 alone with an Italian market share of 8.3% in segment B (this percentage rises to 23% for three-door cars alone: its top position is unchallenged).

This is therefore a model in its first flush that can comfortably take on new challenges and opportunities to stay abreast of market trends. It is also eager to win more customers by playing its trump cards of style, technology, iconic status and range. To ensure success in the future, it is essential to be aware that the playing field has changed and the product is no longer the only reason people buy cars: the product must be backed by a new approach to the target, to sales and to aftersales, including innovative features that are offered in a form that is considered to add substance. Italian customers will also be able to benefit from Lancia V.Y.P. Service (Very Ypsilon People Service) for roadside rescue and a courtesy car service for car delivery and collection during services. More specifically, customers will not have to worry about taking their car in for service for two years, i.e. throughout the warranty period. Lancia will see to everything to keep their customers on the road. A mobile workshop will be on hand speedily to deal with breakdowns, punctures and cars running out of fuel. All in all, a revolutionary service to meet the true needs of premium customers.