10.09.2003 FORTY YEARS ON LANCIA CENTRO STYLE RECREATE THE CLASSIC FULVIA COUPE IN FRANKFURT
Forty years on from the debut of the first Fulvia saloon, Lancia decided to build a prototype to celebrate one of the models that made the brand name famous throughout the world. Lancia Style Centre designers had one perennial dream: to recreate the Fulvia Coupé as though it had been left free to evolve without interruption. The approach to the project was very clear from the outset: no nostalgic self-indulgence but a post-modern reworking of the original concept and styling cues.
Priority was to be given to a fresh, dynamic shape without losing sight of the intrinsic spirit that made the Fulvia, designed by Castagnero in 1965, an ultra-sophisticated mix of eccentricity, elegance, clean aesthetic lines and sportiness. An absolutely up-to-date coupé, in other words. A car that offered an opportunity to explore aesthetic and engineering solutions that could be used on future Lancia products but also carried great evocative weight for people who lusted after and dreamed of the car in its heyday.
The dimensions of the Fulvia Coupé show car are practically identical to those of its predecessor but the track has been broadened to give the car greater stability and strength. The new show car is more muscular in appearance than the original but lightened by fact that the lower part of the vehicle recedes toward the tail. The aggressive-looking front features a broad, rounded bonnet, headlights made out of high-tech modules and a wing-shaped 'brow' that extends the bonnet profile visually below the lights.
by Edd Ellison in Frankfurt
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