Lancia Is Officially Back In Rallying*

*But only in the junior Rally4 category. It’s unveiled its new contender alongside the hot electric Ypsilon HF

28 May 2024

With 10 manufacturers’ titles to its name, no carmaker is more successful in rallying than Lancia. But the fabled brand, which has spent the better part of a decade lumbering along as an Italian-market zombie version of itself, hasn’t made a rally car since the 1990s.

Today, that changes, as Lancia has announced its return to factory rallying. Before you get too excited at the prospect of a fire-spitting Ypsilon flying through the forests amid a cacophony of anti lag, there is a caveat: so far, the return comes only in the Rally4 category, a junior, front-wheel drive ruleset that mainly races at European rather than global levels. So far, it’s a class mainly populated by the likes of the Ford Fiesta and Renault Clio, as well as the Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa, which are closely related to Lancia’s new contender.

The car in question is the Ypsilon Rally4 HF, based on the new fourth-gen Ypsilon, the brand’s first car developed under its Stellantis ownership. Using a hopped-up version of the road car’s 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder, it sends a healthy 209bhp to the front wheels via a five-speed sequential gearbox and a mechanical limited-slip diff. All very promising, although we eagerly await the arrival of a fully-fledged WRC Rally1 machine.

Most importantly, though, Lancia has debuted it with what’s very clearly a tribute to the brand’s famous Martini livery, minus the actual sponsorship of the botanical booze purveyors. It’s like the ’90s all over again.

Alongside the rally car, Lancia has given us a first look at the roadgoing Ypsilon HF. Unlike the competition version, this range-topper is all-electric, using a 237bhp front-wheel drive setup that’s starting to spread across other small, quick EVs from Stellantis including the Abarth 600e and Alfa Romeo Mila… sorry, Junior. It also gets some beefed-up bodywork and chunkier sports seats inside.

It marks the return of Lancia’s HF badge after the best part of a quarter-century away. Ever the left-field brand, HF stands for High Fidelity and is represented by a running elephant because, apparently, once it gets up to speed it’s very difficult to stop. Lancia will be producing HF versions of all its upcoming, reborn range, including the return of the Delta and Gamma nameplates.

The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.