The Lancia brand, part of the Stellantis corporation, has published the first images of the road hot hatch Ypsilon HF and the rally Ypsilon Rally 4 HF – they are similar in appearance, but have fundamentally different technical components: Ypsilon HF is electric, and Ypsilon Rally 4 HF is gasoline, but both versions have only front-wheel drive.
The revival of the Lancia brand is proceeding strictly according to plan for 2021: Lancia cars are returning to the large European market and to racing. The debut model in the recent history of the Italian brand was the fifth-generation Ypsilon hatchback on the French modular CMP platform, its premiere took place in February this year, production at the Spanish Stellantis plant in the city of Figuelas (province of Zaragoza) began earlier this month, and yesterday the announced in March, the Ypsilon HF hot hatch and the Ypsilon Rally 4 HF rally.
Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF 1/4 
Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF 2/4 
Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF 3/4 
Ypsilon Rally 4 HF 4/4
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, which can be translated from English into Russian as “high commitment” or “high precision”.
The Ypsilon Rally 4 HF roof livery lists the years in which Lancia won the World Rally Championship Constructors' Championship
The origin of the HF logo is as follows: in 1960, at the Geneva Motor Show, a group of wealthy Lancia fans formed 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 also adopted by the factory sports team of the Italian brand.
The running elephant on top of 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. The updated HF logo will be received by the top road and racing versions of the new Lancia models, the new factory racing team will be called Lancia Corse HF.
Lancia Ypsilon HF 1/5 
Lancia Ypsilon HF 2/5 
Lancia Ypsilon HF 3/5 
Lancia Ypsilon HF 4/5 
Lancia Ypsilon HF 5/5
The road-going Lancia Ypsilon HF hot hatch will hit the market exactly one year later, in May 2025, and will have an electric powertrain – the same as that of the related Abarth 600e and Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce: an electric motor mounted on the front axle produces 240 hp. With. and allows the hot hatch to accelerate to 100 km/h in 5.8 seconds. Compared to the base 156-horsepower electric Ypsilon, the hot hatch has a sporty lowered suspension with a widened track and more aggressive exterior decor, and the interior is equipped with sports front seats with integral headrests and developed lateral support. There are no other details about this version yet.
Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF 1/3 
Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF 2/3 
Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF 3/3
The rally Ypsilon Rally 4 HF is designed differently, namely like the related Peugeot 208 Rally4 and Opel Corsa Rally4: these hatchbacks are designed for the junior rally group FIA Rally4 and are equipped with a boost to 212 hp. a petrol 1.2-liter turbocharged engine paired with a 5-speed Sadev manual transmission, which transmits all power to the front wheels through a limited-slip differential. The regulations of the Rally4 group require that each car belonging to it be produced in a circulation of at least 2,500 copies, most of them will be bought by client racers, but we are unlikely to see a road version of this model. Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF may hit the race tracks as early as the 2025 season.
Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HF
In addition, the Lancia press release confirmed that other new models of the Italian brand will also have sports road versions of HF: the Gamma cross-liftback is expected in 2026, the new generation Delta hatchback is expected in 2028, both of these new products will be available in road versions only electric, while the new Ypsilon is also available with a hybrid powertrain based on a 100-horsepower 1.2-liter PureTech gasoline turbo engine.
Lancia Ypsilon HF
We add that all-wheel drive for the new Ypsilon has not yet been announced in any form, but the co-platform hybrid crossovers Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida Q4 and Jeep Avenger 4xe have it: they have rear wheels rotates a separate low-power electric motor. In our opinion, taking into account Lancia’s rich rally experience, all-wheel drive would look natural on the Ypsilon hatchback, especially since the all-wheel drive version was in the first generation of the model – the Lancia Y10 hatchback, which entered the market in the mid-1980s.
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