Lancia Kappa

Lancia Kappa Sedan (1994-1998)

The Lancia Kappa (or Lancia k) was produced from the summer of 1994 to mid- 2000 Vehicle of the upper middle class of the Italian car manufacturer Lancia.

The vehicle was a special four-door saloon, five-door estate and two-door coupe. It bears the name of a historical model that was built from 1919 to 1922.

History

The Kappa was from August 1994 as a successor to the subject of the top model in the Lancia program and came after a particularly long -lasting development time, which may, at the outset of all deficiencies and ensure a high level of quality should be on the market.

It laid down the spelling Lancia k and in all languages ​​, the Italian way of speaking Lancia Kappa.

The Kappa sedan was designed by in-house design department internene Lancia Centro Stile in collaboration with the Turin design company IDEA. Built the car was on the internal " D" above platform. Unlike the then fashionable organic design the shape looked more classic. The tail dominated the divided by the trunk lid tail lights, a flat rear window and a large-scale body-color bumpers.

Was driven kappa optionally by a two-liter turbo four-cylinder (205 hp), a two-liter five-cylinder engine ( 145 hp ), a 2.4-liter five-cylinder engine (175 hp), a three-liter V6 ( 204 hp ) or a 2 0.4 -liter turbo diesel with 124 hp. The two-liter version were available with short or long gear ratio. 1996, the power level was raised at 2.0 to 155 hp. Even when Kappa SW 2.4 there was the Power Drive transmission.

The facilities of Kappa was extensive and included, among other things, height and length adjustable steering wheel and a built- in rear window radio antenna, check control system, automatic climate control ( depending on version), velor upholstery ( Alcantara or leather by Poltrona Frau optional), ABS, dual airbags. There was to launch three trim levels: LE, LS and LX. The radio models of the first series were held by Clarion and the same design as the air conditioner operation. Unusually for that time was that you also about the smells of plastics in new cars was worried and installed an odor neutralizer in the form of a special cushion under the seat. The effect lasted for half a year, so exhale as long as the plastics.

A version with an extended wheelbase, which included a two-piece B-pillar with additional discs were dark brown made ​​in 5 copies exclusively in color, of whom two were provided with vinyl roof and used by the leadership of the Fiat Group. Of the three other copies exist two, all four vehicles are now in collectors hand, including at least one in Switzerland. Each copy differs in details from the others.

Kappa SW

The estate version of the Kappa as its predecessor, the topic SW, designed and built by Pininfarina.

The Kappa SW was introduced in June 1996 and had the distinguishing feature of a matte anodized chrome strip at the edge of the roof, which to some extent followed the door cut in the region of the C -pillar and at this point the Pininfarina logo was wearing, who designed the station wagon. In the turbo models, the roof bar was matt anodised in dark gray and painted the door handles as the coupe and sedan body color.

From Kappa Station Wagon 9193 copies were made ​​.

Kappa Coupé

The Kappa Coupé was manufactured from April 1997 to March 2000 by the Italian coachbuilding company Maggiora.

Until the A-pillar sedan and coupe are the same, the rest of the body has been redesigned. The rear window runs flowing from the rear and is flanked by two indicated tail fins. They should represent a throwback to the design of the Lancia Flaminia Coupé from the 1960s.

The interior offered standard with a seating Recaro Alcantara. A leather interior the Italian manufacturer Poltrona Frau, selectable at the wide variety of colors were ( " Kaleido Leather" ) could be ordered as a charge-requiring extra.

The Carrozzeria Maggiora in Chivasso manufactured by Kappa Coupé at a total of 3271 copies. It is thus one of the rarest vehicles produced in large series.

Facelift

In May 1998, the Kappa series underwent a slight revision. The most important innovation introduced the two new engines represent: a two- liter five -cylinder petrol engine with turbocharger and an output of 220 hp and a 2.4 liter turbo diesel with common rail direct injection, which made ​​136 hp. There were also side airbags and a radio navigation system from Blaupunkt ( only in Germany ) as standard.

With fully color-keyed bumpers, high-gloss burl wood imitation along with a sustained anthracite designed dashboard had the vehicle of modern and high quality. New extras were cruise control and xenon headlights.

The variant "LE " accounted for, although aluminum wheels, fog lights and Alcantara upholstery in the base version still were not standard. New "Turbo -Line" was for the Turbo, which was characterized by dark anodized disc mounts, perforated Alcantara upholstery and color-keyed door handles.

Rear view

Accessories

There was the Lancia Kappa accessories from the LineaAccessori program as roof racks, wood shift knob, adjustable dampers and following wheels:

• Wheel of the Lancia Kappa

Alloy Wheel SL- 1187

Alloy Wheel SL -1188, produced by Speedline; Option officially only for the combined

Alloy wheel for all versions of the coupe, also by Speedline

In addition, the rims were factory AZEV -B design, AZEV -C design and Borbet - D design offered that were not kept in the Lancia design.

Announced and presented was a parking assistant named LOP, but never went into production. With it, the rear wheels were lifted, and the car was rolled by rolling sideways into the parking space.

Resonance

In July 2000 ended the production of the Kappa sedan and the wagon. A total of 117 216 units were produced by Kappa, 104 752 copies of which accounted for the sedan, the 9193 Station Wagon and 3271 on the coupe. Thus, the sedan most commonly produced by the three variants with distance, so that the combination only 4% and the coupe only 2% contributed to sales success.

His successor was the notchback sedan Lancia Thesis, wherein the Kappa Kappa SW and Coupé remained from March 2002 without successors.

The sedan was a government vehicle in Italy and Poland. Late as 2002 the Kappa was before the Alfa Romeo 166, the most common vehicle of Italian politicians. Private drove Václav Havel as a Kappa 2.0 16V from 1997 to 2006, then the car went into a private collection. A prominent owner of a kappa than 3.0 in Germany, Joschka Fischer was.

Giovanni Agnelli took advantage of a prolonged Kappa ( with inserted central piece ) as a company car. The front seats were covered with blue leather, the back seats with cloth, as Agnelli did not like leather seats. Particularly large ashtrays were on the rear doors.

Trivia

• Strictly speaking, the spelling of the Greek lowercase kappa κ and not k sedan and wagon are out in internal documents as k, the Kappa Coupe kC. However, k is at the nameplates on the fenders