Launch the Thrill: Revolutionary Lancia Rally Car Revival Hits the Market

Lancia’s Rallying Cry: The Ypsilon Rally4 HF Revives a California Dream

Remember when Lancia was the stuff of legend in the world of rallying? The brand’s golden era, from the ’60s to the early ’90s, produced some of the most iconic cars to ever tackle tarmac and dirt. The sun-kissed hills of California, where Lancia’s rally team of the ’80s and ’90s honed their skills, still whisper tales of Biasion, Ogier, and Yorker, their cars emblazoned with that iconic crescent moon logo.

As I stood at the launch of the new Ypsilon Rally4 HF, the driver Miki Biasion, who won back-to-back World Rally Championship titles with Lancia in 1988 and ’89, uttered something that gave me goosebumps. "If you dreamt of [the] track as a child, you dreamt of the red of a Ferrari," he said. "However, if you dreamt of becoming a rally driver, then you dreamt of Lancia."

The man’s not wrong, and Lancia’s legacy in rallying from the ’60s to the early ’90s will be damn near impossible to top. But the marque has finally taken the first step toward reclaiming that glory with the Ypsilon Rally4 HF. Officially on sale to customer teams starting today, the Rally4 class car is a stepping stone for future stars, showcasing competition in vehicles closer to production machines than the high-downforce, silhouette rally cars that define the WRC’s top category.

Lancia’s Factory Effort

The Ypsilon Rally4 HF will be fielded in a factory European Rally Championship (ERC) effort starting in 2026, with a foray into the Italian Rally Championship, where Lancia will host a competition of its own over six of the upcoming season’s rallies. The winner will be rewarded with a seat on the ERC team the following year.

The Ypsilon Rally4 HF’s modest bill of goods reads: a turbocharged, 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine delivering 212 horsepower to the front wheels via a five-speed gearbox and limited-slip differential. Not exactly mind-blowing figures, but hey, it’s a start.

The Return of a Rally Legend

For those who’ve followed Lancia’s journey, it’s been a tumultuous ride. The brand shed its high-performance image to court high fashion and personal luxury, before being briefly and unconvincingly recast as Europe’s Chrysler. And then, just a handful of cars, with that overpriced Fiat 500 at the end of the line.

I’ll take this timeline, where Miki Biasion advises on the development of Lancia’s road and race cars, over those rewritten chapters. If the brand wants to reform its entire identity around its 30-plus-year-old achievements, I’m all for seeing how it intends to pay tribute to that history and maybe even write a few new pages in the book, too.

In the Spirit of Revival

Lancia’s Rally4 HF is no Delta or Stratos, but it’s a start. With Miki Biasion at the helm, the brand is finally stepping into the fray, where the Ypsilon takes its rightful place alongside the Lancia legacy. And for those of us who grew up with Lancia’s iconic cars, the return of that green and blue livery, that iconic crescent moon, and those historic California hills – well, it’s a dream come true.