Eleven years. That is how long Lancia went with just one model. A singular, lonely little car on the lot. That changes now. The Gamma arrives. Later this year you can buy it. It is their second option. Again.
The Shape of Things to Come
The old Gamma? You probably don’t remember it. A coupe from the late seventies. A sedan before it vanished in eighty-four. Executive. Stiff. The new thing is nothing like that.
This is a ‘coupe SUV’. Sleek lines. Hidden door handles in the back, making it look longer than it is. Those Y-shaped daytime running lights are still there, a nod to heritage in a body style Lancia hasn’t dared touch before.
Inside it’s quiet. Minimal.
Where are the buttons? Gone. Or mostly. You fight with the touchscreen. The steering wheel gets its turn. Air conditioning? A touch. It’s clean, stark. Just like the smaller Ypsilon. Even the little table sticks out from the dash, the tavolino giving it that quirky, specific character.
Design isn’t about adding features. It’s about what you refuse to keep.
The dimensions are a leap forward. Forty-six point seven centimeters long. Nearly nineteen wide. A full meter and sixty-six centimeters tall. Big. Compare that to the Ypsilon, which crawls along at four meters. The little cousin is based on the Peugeot 208. This thing has grown up.
Under the Hood
STLA Medium platform. The Stellantis backbone. You can run it on gas or electrons. Or a mix.
The gas option is a hybrid. 108kW. Probably that 1.2-liter turbo three-cylinder they push everywhere. It works.
The electric variants get serious though. You have your choice:
- 172kW. Front-wheel drive. At least 540 kilometers of range.
- 183kW. The middle child. An estimated 740 kilometers. That’s long.
- 280kW. Dual motor. All-wheel drive. 675 kilometers. Fast and capable.
Production heads south. Italy. Melfi. It will share a line with the DS 7 and 8, plus the Jeep Compass. Efficient. Utilitarian.
A Fragile Future
One SUV is good. But one SUV isn’t enough.
By 2028, maybe three models if the Delta shows up. After that? Nobody knows. Nobody plans far.
Remember Carlos Tavares? 2021. He bought everyone out. Told twelve brands to go away and fix themselves. Give it a decade. Time runs out quickly in this industry.
Now it is Antonio Filosa. FaSTLAne 2020 plan. The focus tightens. Seventy percent of the budget goes to Fiat, Peugeot, Jeep, Ram. Commercial vans too. They make money. The others? Left holding the bag.
Alfa Romeo? Regional now. Citroën? Same. DS and Lancia got the worst deal. ‘Heritage brands’. Sounds fancy. Really means they are orphans under the control of Fiat and Citroën respectively. Can a brand survive as an orphan? Maybe. Lancia tried.
They launched the Ypsilon in 2024. A nice little thing. Modern platform. Electric option. Beautiful styling. Did anyone buy it? Not many.
Sales plummeted. From 40,000 units a year down to just over 110,000 in twenty-five? Wait, no. Just 11,000.
Prices went up. The car got bigger. The market didn’t care. So they built an SUV. A bold one. Will the Gamma save Lancia from becoming a logo on a hood? Or just a slightly more expensive footnote in Stellantis’ spreadsheet?
Who knows. We wait for the reviews. And the invoices. 🍂
