Would You Pay Dodge Challenger Money for This Lancia Ypsilon?

The carmaker was born all the way back at the beginning of the auto industry, in 1906, from the mind of Vincenzo Lancia, an Italian racing driver and engineer—as you’ll probably notice over the coming weeks, drivers and engineers are what created most of the Italian auto and moto brands, not businessmen like elsewhere.

Given how its creator was a racing driver, Lancia was fast to climb the ladder to success in racing, most specifically rallying. How successful was it, you ask? Well, consider that Lancia has not been part of the rallying scene since the early 1990s and still holds the bragging rights for most Manufacturers' Championships than any other competitor.

Things did not go as well on the civilian car front, if we can call it that, where Lancia was never actually at the top of the food chain. Not even in America, where the moniker sold between 1975 and 1982, exotic names like Beta didn’t catch on.

Now in the hands of the complicated Stellantis conglomerate, the brand is nothing more than a very pale shadow of its former self, a company that went from the mighty Delta to the "fashion city car" of today, the Ypsilon.

This model is the only one presently offered by this Italian carmaker, a weirdly-shaped contraption that despite its marginal importance on the car market, dares to sell for big bucks. But only in Europe. Scratch that, only in Italy, that is.

Part of our trek through the world of Italian cars and bikes will consist of finding the most expensive model configurations available. In the case of the Lancia Ypsilon, that would be the €23,515 (or the equivalent of close to $28,000) example we have here.

The Ypsilon range is offered with three engine choices, none of them going above 70 horsepower, and two trim levels. At the lower end of the spectrum, we have the 1.0 mild-hybrid EcoChic with 70 hp on tap and a starting price of €15,300 ($18,165), and then comes the 1.2 EcoChic that runs on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), going from €16,800 ($19,948 at the current exchange rates) and generating just 69 hp.

At the top of the food chain sits the 0.9 TwinAir, with its fancy bi-fuel system (gasoline and methane) that generates 70 hp. We focused on this one for our configuration, given how it’s priced the steepest, at €18,300 euros ($21,700), and we went for the Gold trim level (the other one being Silver).

There are some 11 colors to choose from (we went for the most expensive, Grigio Lunare), four wheel designs (we chose a 15-inch set), and three upholstery choices, the most expensive of which being, of course, Alcantara.

The starting price begins to go up real fast, with the Comfort package (rear electric windows, 5-way adjustable seat for the driver, and 60/40 split rear bench) adding €450 ($534), while Gold Plus (automatic climate control, chrome mirror caps) will set one back an extra €700 ($830).

The Mopar Connect service comes at a cost too, namely €310 ($367) for one year. This service gives one access to things like dedicated assistance service, remote operation of the car's locks, and checking the fuel levels on the smartphone.

You can have a closer look at the fully configured Ypsilon in the PDF section attached below. As said, the car specced exactly like this costs the equivalent of $28,000. For reference, that is uncomfortably similar to the starting price another member of the Stellantis family, Dodge, asks for an incomparably better machine, the mighty Challenger.