INTRODUCTION

The Lancia Musa brings the secrets of an Italian welcome to the world of the motor car: it receives its guests with good taste, warmth and generosity.

Its shape and features contrive to recreate a typically Italian atmosphere, a magical mix of elegance, informality, effortless attentiveness, luxury and naturalness that puts everyone instantly at ease.

The Lancia Musa, world-premiered at the recent Geneva Motorshow, is a vehicle that was never intended to fit into any specific category. It looks like a mini but its extra centimetres create a sensation of ease and airiness.

It offers all the features and comfort of a higher-category car yet does not occupy the physical, and mental, space of a range-leader. It is modular in design but built for people who love the physical pleasure of conviviality more than the intangible rigour of modular space management.

The car's very short development time means the Lancia Musa is able to pre-empt the trends of tomorrow as well as the fashions of today. The car is intuitively in line with the ground swell of contemporary taste. Showy luxury cars have had their day and the Lancia Musa, though evidently opulent, eschews pointless ostentation. Rampant consumerism has given way to considered choice and the Lancia Musa, though a sophisticated product, also offers a specific rational appeal. People are again looking for product substance when they make big purchases and the Lancia Musa offers all the value a customer could want at a balanced cost.

All this, intelligent luxury, content and balance, brings the Lancia Musa closer to the movers and shakers of our generation: the people who make and shape our world today.

The Lancia Musa is immediately outstanding for its up-to-date finely wrought design that is in keeping with the unmistakable Lancia style of recent years. Yet it saves the very best of itself for its guests: its interior is exceptionally sophisticated and comfortable and offers a wealth of colours and top-quality materials. On the road, it offers a reassuring sensation of control and safety with an extra touch of brio that makes it satisfying to drive over any route, even around town.

The Lancia Musa is the epitome of good taste in its sophisticated, harmonious shapes, its warm colour combined with elegance, in its top-quality details (such as its grille and two-tone wheels) and exquisite materials (such as leather combined with microfibre). It is the right size for use around town and for longer trips: the vehicle measures just under four metres in length, 1.70 in width and 1.66 metres in height and is bound to become the new benchmark in this particular compact car sector.

The Lancia Musa is warmth in the sensations it offers its guests: the lightness of its transparent 'GranLuce' roof and the airiness of the interior environment, the pleasing sensations offered by its surfaces and the wraparound comfort of its ergonomic seats. A dual zone climate control system and Bose Sound System (typical Lancia features) make particularly satisfying use of a space that is easy to dominate due to the raised driving position, user-friendly controls and modular seats that can assume up to 32 different positions (including an unusual 'chaise longue' position).

The Lancia Musa is generosity in its engineering products: high-performing engines designed for an easy, relaxing drive. Two diesel Multijet units: the 100 bhp 1.9 unit is well-rounded and flexible, ideal under any situation and the 70 bhp 1.3 unit is ideal for driving around town when fitted with the Dolce Far Niente gearbox. For people who cover a smaller mileage, a lively 95 bhp 1.4 Fire petrol unit is available. The same generosity is evident in the broad and diverse standard equipment list (the Platino specification includes a 'GranLuce' roof, leather interiors, radio-CD and alloy wheels) and the surfaces included in the exclusive Parure Lancia, package that extends the contractual warranty to the fifth year after the sales date or a maximum of 120,000 km.

Travelling in the Lancia Musa is a warm, reassuring and satisfying experience that reinforces the pleasure of living a life full of good taste and well-being.

The name 'Musa' is in keeping with this idea: a classical name that conjures up an idea of art and creativity. The choice of lettering also has a strong link with the car: the design of the letter 'M' is reminiscent of a chaise longue, the very symbol of comfort and relaxation.