Lancia commercial vehicles

Rédaction : Albert Lallement

Robustness and elegance

Since 1912, Lancia had been diversifying its range by producing commercial vehicles within its division Veicoli Industriali. These trucks and vans were finished and equipped to a higher standard than many of its competitors.

For more than six decades, Lancia's commercial vehicles were characterised by the meticulous craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology which have always been the trademark of the Turin-based brand. Few top-of-the-range manufacturers have built luxury saloons, HGVs and buses in the same spirit of sophistication as Lancia. The significant financial aspect of the vehicles on offer was largely offset by an unequalled reputation for solidity and reliability. Once again, it was an industrial success story that reflected the brand's core identity.

Many Lancia enthusiasts may not be aware that, in addition to sports cars with brilliant mechanicals, the Turin-based manufacturer also produced a range of trucks and commercial vehicles that were just as powerful and elegant. Initially, the aim was to produce a parallel range of vehicles to support the company's business and finances, but Lancia's industrial and commercial vehicles established themselves as models that could compete with manufacturers whose core business was industrial vehicles.

MILITARY DEMAND

Only six years after Lancia was founded in Turin in 1906, the division Veicoli Industriali was created to fulfil a request from the Italian army to supply commercial vehicles for its colonial campaign in Libya. In 1915, the Lancia factory was commandeered to contribute to the war effort and supplied Theta chassis transformed into command cars, as well as 1.ZM light utility vehicles later renamed Jota and Djota (short chassis) which were used for towing artillery, transporting troops and also as ambulances.

This diversity of adaptation was to remain a regular feature of Lancia's industrial and utility range. After the Great War, the Lancia company continued to develop this activity, concentrating it in a factory built in Bolzano in 1935. This was where the highly successful Omicron coaches were assembled until 1937, as well as a range of multi-purpose HGVs from the Ro 265 to the 3Ro, which would last until 1949. In parallel, the Esaro series of military trucks was produced from 1942 to 1946.

In addition to its own range of commercial vehicles, Lancia Veicoli Industriali marketed bare chassis, such as this ESATAU P with twin axles. These were then sold to specialist assemblers. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Lancia D.R.

THE BOLZANO FACTORY

The oldest Lancia factory was at Borgo San Paolo, in a neighbourhood of Turin. From 1911, this production site was also the company's headquarters until it was taken over by Fiat in 1969. During the inter-war period, Vincenzo Lancia, like many other Italian manufacturers, was obliged to respond to requests from the Fascist government to set up production sites in certain regions that had been incorporated into the Italian state in 1919, as part of a vast economic nationalisation plan imposed by the State. In March 1935, Lancia acquired land in Bolzano in the Trentino-Alto Adige region (formerly South Tyrol), close to the Austrian border, to build a new factory.

The Bolzano plant became operational in June 1937, and the commercial vehicle division of Lancia Veicoli Industriali was gradually transferred to Bolzano, to relieve pressure on the Turin plant. In addition to the foundry division and the machining and assembly workshops, the Bolzano plant also incorporated part of the activities of the Officine Viberti bodywork company. The latter company was specialised in the construction of trailers and the fitting out of public transport vehicles. In a short space of time, the plant became the exclusive Lancia production site for the brand's trucks, bus chassis and military vehicles.

During this period, there were also major developments in the mechanical engineering division, which enabled the Lancia range of commercial vehicles, for example, to be converted to diesel engines more quickly. During the Second World War, the Bolzano plant manufactured vehicles for the army and was a strategic target for Allied bombing raids from 1942 onwards. Production came to a definitive halt in 1943, when the site was partly destroyed. Production was slowly resumed at the end of 1945, once peace had returned.

The Esadelta range of heavy goods vehicles, with cab chassis, was produced from 1959 to 1971. The Esadelta was powered by an 8.2-litre in-line six-cylinder diesel engine. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Lancia D.R.

A RENOWNED RANGE

Over the years, the Borgo San Paolo plant took over the production of light commercial vehicles and vans, many of which were based on the brand's own car chassis, but the Bolzano site refocused most of its activity on heavy goods vehicles, and continues to do so to this day. Some of these models became benchmarks in their field, even if from a budgetary point of view they were not always the most economical. But Lancia quality comes at a price, whether it's a luxury saloon, an ambulance or a bus...

The biggest commercial success of Lancia's HGV range after the Second World War was the Esatau model, of which 13,262 units were produced between 1947 and 1963. There were numerous versions in 14 and 18 tonne GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight), with two or three axles and right-hand drive, which served as the basis for buses, coaches, trolleybuses, dump trucks, military and fire trucks, etc. The production of commercial vehicles from the Lancia range, such as the Esadelta and Esagamma, ceased in the two years following the brand's integration into the Fiat Group. However, Lancia Veicoli Industriali continued to manufacture specific vehicles: military 4x4s, buses and transport vehicles in general, as well as fire trucks, after joining the new IVECO group in 1974. The company joined Fiat Veicoli Industriali and these specific models were produced by a new, separate branch called Lancia Veicoli Speciali.

The Bolzano site, founded in 1937, included not only the production plant, but also an in-house school to train workers, a library and research laboratories. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Lancia D.R.

Omicron buses

This coach and bus chassis, produced from 1928 to 1935 (more than 600 models), was equipped with several types of bodywork, made exclusively by Fratelli Macchi and Carminati. It acquired a reputation for robustness by being used on desert routes through Algeria and Sudan. The Omicron chassis was available in three versions: C and L, with wheelbases of 830 cm and 953 cm respectively. It had two axles, with a three-axle option. It was powered by a Lancia 7-litre six-cylinder Type 77 engine developing 93 bhp. In 1934 it was fitted with a five-cylinder, 6.8-litre diesel engine developing 96 bhp, developed in collaboration with the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers.

THE FIRST COMMERCIAL VEHICLE

The very first commercial vehicle produced by Lancia Veicoli Industriali was an armoured self-propelled vehicle type 1.Z, of which 20 were ordered by the Royal Italian Army in 1912. The prototype was developed in collaboration with Ansaldo using a Zeta 12/15 HP chassis. After an initial engagement in Libya, around 150 units were later lined up at the Battle of Isonzo in 1915 and the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in 1918 (version 1.ZM). After the war, the Lancia 1.Z was assigned to Carabinieri units and the Royal Guard. It was powered by a Lancia 4.9-litre four-cylinder engine developing 60 bhp. Despite weighing 5.4 tonnes thanks to 6.5 mm of armour, it could reach speeds of up to 70 km/h. It was armed with three Maxim machine guns mounted on two superimposed turrets.