Lancia's Grand Comeback Involves Cars Jointly Developed With Alfa Romeo

You’d be forgiven for thinking the merging of PSA and FCA to form the new automotive giant ‘Stellantis’ would spell bad news for a brand like Lancia. These days the languishing, once-great brand produces just one car: the ancient Ypsilon, which is only alive because it’s still oddly popular in Italy. The only market in which it’s sold.

With so many brands in one pot, Stellantis will likely be keen to trim the fat. Lancia is perhaps the easiest target of all, but rather than shutter it, there are plans for a great comeback, and this involves Alfa Romeo.

As the merger was completed last month, a brand chart was released designated Lancia as a ‘premium brand’. Right now it most certainly isn’t, so this gave us hope. And sure enough, Automotive News Europe is now reporting that the first in a series of jointly developed models between Alfa Romeo, DS and Lancia is set to arrive by 2024.

Speaking at the online reveal of the surprisingly attractive new DS 4 this week, DS product director Marion David said the cars “Would share common premium features including drivetrains that would separate them from mainstream Stellantis brands such as Peugeot.”

One way to do this could involve Alfa Romeo’s Giorgio architecture, a grossly underused platform which currently only underpins the Stelvio and Giulia (and soon the Maserati Grecale SUV). A revival of the HF badge in a car using Alfa Romeo’s 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 would be especially lovely, and also difficult to justify by 2024 thanks to ever-tightening emissions rules. But hey, we can dream.

Before then, Automotive News also reports, there’ll be a jointly developed Alfa using some more humble underpinnings. It’ll be a small crossover built in Poland on PSA’s CMP platform, which is currently used for the likes of the Vauxhall Corsa and Peugeot 208. The Alfa is set to arrive in 2023 and will slot neatly below the Tonale, which we should be seeing in production form for the first time this year.