Lancia Kappa: the last big Lancia saloon of the century

The Lancia Kappa, type 838, was an executive car built from August 1994 to July 2000. It shared its platform with the Alfa Romeo 166 and was produced as a saloon, an estate and a coupé, always with left-hand drive and a front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout. It revived a name Lancia had first used in 1919, when the Greek letter kappa named the model that preceded the Lambda.

Lancia Kappa at a glance

based on one source: the English Wikipedia article covers the 1994 Kappa, while the Italian page of the same name describes the 1919 model; only the name is shared between them.

History of the Lancia Kappa

A quiet executive car

The Kappa replaced the Thema in 1994 and continued Lancia’s use of Greek letters for model names. In writing Lancia often called it simply the k, in the manner of the Greek kappa. It was built at the Fiat factory at Tetti Francesi in Rivalta di Torino and styled by the Lancia style centre with the I.D.E.A Institute. The body was deliberately restrained: Fiat’s Paolo Cantarella explained that the designers did not want to create too much visual noise. Its torsional rigidity was reported as twice that of the outgoing Thema and 15 per cent stiffer than any of its rivals. In Poland, where Fiat was the largest domestic manufacturer, the Kappa served as the official government car.

What the press thought

Autocar’s Peter Robinson drove the Kappa in November 1994. He found the styling bland but the interior commodious, with a low cowl and a very Japanese-looking fascia somewhere between a Honda NSX and a Lexus LS400, and rear cabin room immense, though the rear cushion was too flat, a fault corrected later. He disliked the mock wood around the centre console but praised the refined drivetrain, the smooth responsiveness of the 2.4-litre five-cylinder, the absence of torque steer and the Servotronic steering. Ride and handling were better than average but not class-leading, with too much body roll and front grip in the wet that did not inspire confidence. The automatic gearbox, an Aisin-Warner 50-40 LE, was shared with the Volvo 850.

The range over six years

Production began in 1994, the estate arrived in 1996 with a variable-geometry inlet manifold on the 2.0-litre engine and new seats, and the coupé followed in 1997 along with interior, boot and suspension changes and new alloy wheels. In 1998 the 2.0 turbo four was replaced by a five-cylinder engine, the turbodiesel became a JTD, black bumper guards turned body-coloured, the base LE trim was dropped leaving LS and LX, and a Turbo trim appeared without chrome window surrounds; leather steering wheels and a front armrest were added. The other five-cylinders were revised in 1999, and xenon headlamps arrived in 2000.

Estate and coupé

The estate, called SW, was designed and built by Pininfarina and shared the saloon’s exterior dimensions and most of its panels; 9,208 were made, and it could be ordered with Boge-Nivomat self-levelling hydropneumatic rear suspension. The coupé was designed by the Lancia style centre and built by Maggiora, with a wheelbase 120 mm shorter, a wider rear track, frameless doors and a front end identical to the other bodies. It was Lancia’s first coupé since 1984, when the Beta and Gamma coupés ended, and the last Lancia to offer that body style. Its limited hand-built production and high price made it rare, and to save cost its rear lights were shared with the Delta. 3,263 were built from 1996 to 2000.

Design and features

• Stiff body: twice the torsional rigidity of the Thema, according to the period press.
• Five-cylinder engines: smooth and torquey, with Servotronic steering and little torque steer.
• Three bodies: saloon, Pininfarina estate and a Maggiora-built coupé.
• Quiet luxury: a deliberately restrained design aimed at chauffeur and executive use.

Lancia Kappa versions

• Kappa saloon: the main body, 104,752 built.
• Kappa SW: Pininfarina estate, 9,208 built.
• Kappa Coupé: Maggiora-built two-door, 3,263 built.
• Turbo trim: from 1998, without chrome window surrounds.
• LS and LX: the remaining trims after the LE was dropped in 1998.

The Kappa replaced the Lancia Thema and was the last big Lancia saloon before the brand’s retreat; it shared its platform family with the Lancia Dedra era cars and its coupé borrowed the Delta’s rear lights. More cars are in the Lancia collection.

Sources

• Lancia Kappa, English Wikipedia: range history, press review, body styles, production