Drive and Restore

Home › Models

Lancia Ypsilon: the enduring charm of Italy's little fashion icon

By Luca de Ruiter · · 3 min read

For years the Ypsilon was not just a Lancia: it was Lancia. From 2014 it was the only model in the range, and it kept the brand alive until the 2024 relaunch. Across five generations, counting its Y10 ancestor, Lancia says more than three million people have bought one. Here is how a small premium city car became Italy’s fashion icon on wheels.

The ancestor: Y10 (1985)

The line starts with the Y10 of 1985, sold as an Autobianchi in Italy and as a Lancia in most export markets. It brought ideas to the city-car class that were normally kept for bigger cars: a slippery body, large windows, a better-equipped interior and a black tailgate whatever the body colour. It was also the car that introduced Fiat’s FIRE engine family. Lancia’s own German slogan sums up the positioning: “the right car for beautiful people”.

First generation: the Y (1995–2003)

The Y10’s successor, simply called Y, was designed by Enrico Fumia, who started on it in 1992. It was built in Melfi on a shortened Fiat Punto platform and was a little bigger and more expensive than the Y10.

Its party piece was the Kaleidos colour programme: buyers could choose from 100 body colours. In a class where most cars came in a handful of shades, that was a statement. Over 870,000 were built.

Second generation: Ypsilon (2003–2011)

The second car, now called Ypsilon, was revealed at the 2003 Geneva show. It was again based on a shortened Punto platform, still a three-door, with styling cues taken from the 1930s Lancia Ardea, and with a roomier and better-finished interior. Production moved from Melfi to Termini Imerese in Sicily in 2005 and ended there in November 2011, when the plant closed. At around 60,000 a year it was Lancia’s best-selling car.

Third generation (2011–2024)

The third Ypsilon moved to the Fiat 500 and Panda platform and to the Tychy plant in Poland, and for the first time it had five doors, with the rear handles hidden in the door edge to keep the coupé-like look. In the UK, Ireland and Japan it was sold as the Chrysler Ypsilon.

As Lancia shrank, the Ypsilon remained: from 2014 it was the brand’s only model, and after Lancia withdrew from its other European markets around 2017 it was sold almost exclusively in Italy.

Fourth generation: the 2024 relaunch

The new Ypsilon was revealed in February 2024 as the first new Lancia since 2011 and the first electric one. It is built in Zaragoza, Spain, on Stellantis’ CMP platform shared with the Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa, and is offered as a battery-electric car and as a 1.2 hybrid. A high-performance Ypsilon HF followed in 2025, and a limited Cassina edition of 1,906 cars, the year of Lancia’s founding, references the Italian furniture maker.

Why it worked

The Ypsilon never tried to be the cheapest or the most practical small car. It sold on design, colour, nice materials and a sense of occasion, and Lancia leaned into special editions (36 of them across the generations) aimed at very specific buyers.

Buying and restoring an early Y

The first-generation Y is now old enough to interest collectors, especially in a rare Kaleidos colour with a well-kept interior. Mechanically it is Punto and FIRE underneath, so engine and running gear parts are rarely the problem; trim, interior fabrics and Lancia-specific body parts are harder to find. Original (NOS) Lancia trim is worth buying when you see it.

Sources

#Lancia#Ypsilon#Y10