Lancia Ypsilon revealed as brand’s first electric car

The new Lancia Ypsilon has been revealed early ahead of its official unveiling and is primed to become the brand’s first electric car, complete with a bold, concept-inspired look, Stellantis’ new infotainment and an on-board table. 

Called the Ypsilon Limited Edition Cassina, just 1906 examples of the long-awaited small electric car will be produced, in tribute to the Italian brand’s founding year. 

It will be officially revealed on 14 February at the Italian firm’s headquarters in Milan, with customers able to express their interest in buying one through an online portal and joining the brand’s ‘One of 1906’ campaign.

Said to “represent the maximum expression of design, comfort and well-being on board a Lancia”, the hatchback takes its design cues from the Pura HPE concept shown last spring. 

A video of the car showed a profile similar to the Peugeot e-208, brand new ‘Y’ shaped diamond cut alloys, daytime running lights identical to the Pura HPE concept with LED headlamps mounted underneath them, and a Lancia badge mounted on the C pillar.

At the rear, newly introduced rounded rear lights are said to have been inspired by the Stratos rally car, and sit next to the brand’s redesigned bumper-width logo, both of which protrude from the rear windscreen to give it more presence.

Lancia has partnered with Italian furniture maker Cassina to make the car, which was responsible for the design of the interior and exterior colours. 

It has ribbed velvet seats with a ‘cannelloni’ motif, a small table protruding from the dashboard, the first to be used in a car, a flat-bottomed steering wheel trimmed in leather and black plastic, and Stellantis’ new Sound Air Light Augmentation (SALA) infotainment system.

This uses fully customisable widgets that are depicted on two standard screens as standard, with the homepage serving as a centralised control panel allowing the driver to choose how they want to communicate with the car, whether it be by touching a button or by their voice.

Lancia has not officially revealed powertrain details for the Ypsilon, but the brand did announce that the pure-electric car will offer a range of 403km (250 miles). 

This means it will likely use the same 51kWh battery as the Peugeot e-208 and Vauxhall Corsa Electric, resulting in a 0-62mph time of 8.2sec and a top speed of 93mph.

Prices for the Ypsilon have also not been detailed, but we expect the limited-run model to be priced higher than the equivalent Peugeot and Vauxhall, which start from £32,400.