The Lancia brand, part of the Stellantis corporation, has decided to return to the production of sports models marked with the letters HF — the first to try on the updated logo electric hot hatch Ypsilon HF, it will appear next year. In addition, Lancia CEO Luca Napolitano hinted that the brand may return to rallying.
The history of the Lancia brand is closely connected with rally racing, in which it participated from the early 1950s to 1992 . In the official World Rally Championship alone, Lancia has won ten constructors' championships — no other brand has yet broken this record. It was thanks to the rally that the most outstanding Lancia road models were born — most of them were marked with the letters HF, they stand for Hi-Fi or High Fidelity.
Lancia Fulvia HF coupe from the mid-1960s
The history of these letters is as follows: in 1960, at the Geneva Motor Show, a group of wealthy Lancia fans organized the Lancia Hi-Fi club. To become a member of this club, you had to have at least six Lancia cars in your garage. Subsequently, the most productive versions of Lancia road models began to be marked with the letters HF, and they were adopted by the factory sports team of the Italian brand.
Lancia Delta HF Integrale 1993
The running elephant over the letters HF is the personal mascot of Gianni Lancia, the son of the company's founder Vincenzo Lancia. The meaning of this talisman is that nothing can stop a running elephant, the Lancia racing team liked it, they used a whole herd of elephants in rally cars. The final versions of the all-wheel drive Lancia Delta HF Integrale hot hatch, released in the early 1990s, were also lavishly decorated with elephants.
Electric Lancia Ypsilon
Today Lancia presented an updated HF logo (in the title photo) for future sports versions of the new models — a red elephant against a background of white letters. Next year it will decorate the Lancia Ypsilon HF hot hatch, which, as it turned out, will share the technical content with the recently announced Abarth 600e sports crossover: the electric motor power will be 240 hp, the Ypsilon HF will be able to accelerate to 100 km/h in 5. 8 p. For Ypsilon HF, in addition, a lowered sports suspension and an extended body are announced. There are no other technical details yet.
Electric Lancia Ypsilon
For comparison, let's say that a regular electric hatchback Ypsilon, which made its world premiere in February, is equipped with an electric motor producing 156 hp. and a battery with a capacity of 51 kWh, a full charge of which is enough for 403 km on the WLTP cycle.
We would like to remind you that in 2026 the Lancia model range will be replenished with the Gamma cross-liftback, and in 2028 a hatchback will appear The new generation Delta — both of these new products will obviously also have sports versions of HF.
Today's press release also quoted Lancia CEO Luca Napolitano, saying that Lancia's return to rallying is being considered — for fans for the Italian brand, this would be a real gift and hope for the complete revival of Lancia, which is difficult to imagine without motorsport.