Yes! Lancia’s performance label HF returns!
Lancia’s return to rallying?
The new HF logo debuts on the new Lancia Ypsilon HF and then on the brand’s future high-performance versions. In addition, Luca Napolitano, CEO of the Lancia brand, makes a striking statement, “Are we returning to the Rally? We are working on that.” Lancia is on a roll!
Lancia HF history
Lancia Centro Stile has reinterpreted the original HF logo and made it contemporary. In particular, the colors of the HF logo (white, red and black) have been reused, without adding graphic elements. But they have been simplified and made more pure, respecting the unmistakable geometry of the Lancia brand. The colors are those of the official logo of the 1966 Fulvia Coupè, while – to express speed and radicalness – the slope of the letters is that of the logo of the 1990s Lancia Delta. The new HF logo is Progressive Classic because all the signature elements of the historic brand, consisting of the elephant and the acronym, are now reinterpreted.
About the Lancia Ypsilon HF
The Lancia Ypsilon HF gets a lowered suspension, widened track, becomes 100% electric with a 240-hp electric motor and offers acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in just 5.8 seconds. In fact, the same specs as the Abarth 600e.
HF logo and Squadra Corse Lancia
The HF logo was first introduced in 1960 at the Geneva Motor Show when a group of passionate Lancia owners formed the “Lancia Hi-Fi” club (Hi-Fi stands for High-Fidelity), reserved for those who had purchased at least six brand new Lancia cars. The initials HF first appeared on some Lancia sports models, such as the Flaminia Pinin Farina Coupe, the Flaminia Sport Zagato and the Flavia Coupe.
A few years later in February 1963, Cesare Fiorio and a number of drivers and passionate Lancia owners founded the HF Lancia Racing Team. The Racing Team logo consists of the capital letters HF (white on a black background), with four red elephants as mascots and the capital letters SQUADRA CORSE (white on a red background) underneath.
The legendary ’66 Fulvia Coupe HF received the logo as the first, followed by the unbeatable Stratos HF from 1974 to 1978, the Delta Turbo in 1983 and finally the Delta 4WD, Delta Integrale and Delta HF Integrale Evolution.
Rally
Since the creation of the HF Lancia Racing Team, the successes of the Lancia HF cars were numerous. In 1972, the Fulvia HF won the International Constructors’ Championship, which from the following year became the World Rally Championship; a competition in which the same Fulvia HF and the Stratos HF triumphed in 1974 and the Stratos HF in the 1976-1977 biennial season, culminating in the six consecutive titles won between 1987 and 1992 by the iconic all-wheel drive Delta HF, a model that could excel in several versions, 4WD, 8v, 16v and Evolution.
Elephant symbol brings good luck?
“Between legend and reality,” the elephant is said to have been chosen as a lucky charm as early as 1953 by Gianni, son of Vincenzo Lancia and CEO of the automaker from 1949 to 1955. The significance would be attributed to the idea that elephants, once launched into a race, are unstoppable. The symbol of the galloping pachyderm, initially depicted in blue and then in red, seems to have originated from Eastern mythology, as a symbol of good fortune and victory, as long as it is depicted with its trunk extended forward.
