It could well be the satirical version of Red Bull Racing: a red elephant. Because no one would voluntarily choose Dumbo as a logo for a fast car label, right? Well, yes. Lancia announced today that they are reviving the HF label, including the elephant. Next year they will introduce a fully electric Ypsilon HF with 240 hp and a 0-100 time of 5.8 seconds.
HF stands for Hi-Fi. Lancia's exclusive Hi-Fi Club was introduced in 1960 as a club for loyal customers who had purchased at least six new Lancias. The abbreviation stood for High-Fidelity, which refers to something like precision and accuracy. Or reliability, if you translate it literally. Anyway, it just sounded really cool, which is what matters in the end.
You know the Delta HF Integrale
Later, Lancia fan Cesare Fiorio started the HF Lancia Racing Team. The team's first car was the Fulvia Coupé HF in 1966. Eventually the legendary Stratos HF and Delta HF Integrale came. We are betting that there will also be a new Delta HF in the future, but next year we will first get the electric Ypsilon with the HF logo.
Lancia itself does not dare to say with certainty how the elephant ended up on the logo, but they indicate that the dominant theory is that the animal was Gianni Lancia's lucky animal. He was the son of Vincent Lancia, who was the boss of the brand between 1949 and 1955. In automotive history, it is more common for children to provide inspiration.
Elephants are unstoppable
The idea was that once an elephant starts running, there is no stopping them. According to Lancia, the idea of the running elephant on the logo seems to come from Eastern mythology, as a symbol of luck and victory. What is apparently important in this mythology is that the animal is depicted with the trunk extended forward.
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