Lancia Megagamma

Lancia Megagamma
Overview
Manufacturer	Lancia
Production	1978
Designer	Italdesign´s Giorgetto Giugiaro
Body and chassis
Class	Compact MPV (concept car)
Body style	5-door minivan
Layout	FF layout
Related	Lancia Gamma
Powertrain
Engine	2.5 L 2484 cc Lancia H4
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,670 mm (105.1 in)[1]
Length	4,310 mm (169.7 in) [1]
Width	1,780 mm (70.1 in) [1]
Height	1,617 mm (63.7 in) [1]
Curb weight	1,040 kg (2,293 lb)[2]
Chronology
Successor	Lancia Zeta

The Lancia Megagamma minivan is a concept car designed by Italdesign in 1978 and introduced the same year at the Turin Motor Show.^[3] It can be seen as the forerunner of modern MPVs which became popular in the 1980s.^[4][5] The car never reached production, because it was seen as too risky by Lancia's parent company Fiat and its CEO Umberto Agnelli.^[6] This concept itself addressed the needs of families, with a roomy cabin in a compact package.

The Nissan Prairie (1981) was the first modern production MPV following the Megagamma idea, later followed by models like the Mitsubishi Chariot, Renault Espace, Honda Shuttle, Toyota Sprinter Caribbean, Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager, Renault Scenic and Volkswagen Touran. Lancia's own MPVs are the Zeta and current Phedra.

The Megagamma has a Lancia SOHC 2.5 litre flat-4 engine equipped with Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection producing 140 PS (100 kW; 140 hp) at 5400 rpm and 209 newton metres (154 ft·lbf) at 3000 rpm of torque. It was a front engined, front-wheel drive vehicle based on the Lancia Gamma platform.

Many of the seminal packaging lessons of the Megagamma were incorporated by Giorgetto Giugiaro in the 1983 Fiat Uno supermini. There were also significant styling similarities. Its tall car / high seating packaging is imitated by every small car today. The Uno reversed the trend for lower and lower built cars. It showed that not just low sleek cars could be aerodynamic with a Cd of just 0.34, but small, roomy, boxy well packaged cars could be too. In 1984 it was voted European Car of the Year.^[7]

References