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Until recently, Lancia was withering away on death row, reduced since 2017 to a single model in a single market. One could almost sense hard-headed FCA chief Sergio Marchionne’s irritation as the Fiat 500-based Ypsilon continued to sell in droves.

It’s thanks only to Italian drivers’ patriotism and indifference to needless expense and the latest tech that Lancia survived for long enough to be saved by Stellantis.

Credit must go to founding Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares for appreciating Lancia’s value enough to hand the brand sufficient funding for a 10-year revival of its core model lines.

Precisely what is that inherent value, though? That’s what I’m hoping to discover, driving the new Ypsilon in Turin – home to the first factory that employed Vincenzo Lancia way back in 1898, the first site he opened under his own name and the famous Mirafiori plant, now also host to the Fiat and Lancia historic car collection.

The Ypsilon comes in Ibrida and Elettrica forms, and I’ve chosen the Elettrica, it being Lancia’s electric car. The former uses a 99bhp mild-hybrid 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol triple, the latter a 154bhp motor and a 51kWh battery.

Those specs feel very familiar because they are, from the many small cars based on Stellantis’s e-CMP platform.

The Ypsilon Elettrica drives virtually indistinguishably from a Peugeot 208 or Vauxhall Corsa EV, then. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Those cars have sold extremely well and the finer points of ride and handling aren’t priorities for many buyers in this market.

The Ypsilon is smooth, comfortable and refined on the autostrada, and in town it has a healthy reserve of power and it will round corners sharply. And if that really isn’t enough for you, exciting news: there’s a rally-inspired HF version coming.

What really sets everyday cars apart, prices aside, is design. The reason one person falls in love with the Jeep Avenger may well be why another orders an Alfa Romeo Junior instead, despite their identical specs.

Lancia has always been a design brand and, in this coming era of increasing mechanical and technical similarity, going all in on that appears to be an ideal strategy.

“Many people came expressly to ask me to work for Lancia. There was passion in their eyes, and when I told them about the possible plans for the rebirth of this glorious brand, they lit up,” creative chief Jean-Pierre Ploué (designer of such favourites as the Mk1 Renault Twingo, Citroën C6 and DS 3) recently told Italian publication Auto & Design.

Of the four design pillars his Turin studio team defined, ‘meaningful’ perhaps isn’t the easiest to identify in the Ypsilon, but ‘iconic’ I can see in the Stratos-inspired tail-lights and, while ‘consistent’ and ‘eclectic’ might seem to clash, the exterior sparks interest in its many details – most unusually the, erm, Y-front – without becoming a hotchpotch.

Same inside, where unusual details abound: knurled gold air-vent adjusters, slices of wood, an art deco dashboard pattern and a table atop the centre console – whose round shape is replicated in the doors and ‘Sala Hub’ behind the touchscreen (short for Sound Air Light Augmentation and meant to simplify the digital experience, apparently). And then there are the rust-coloured, boiserie-patterned velvet seats – simply fabulous.

The Ypsilon’s official range is 250 miles, so I expect to finish the 160-mile drive to my hotel in Turin with plenty in reserve, but the number on the display plunges alarmingly as I cruise at 80mph, such that I have to rise early the next morning to get a big charge.

Thankfully, Zap-Map reveals that there are many chargers in this industrial city, and the Plentitude network (run by Italian oil giant Eni) offers both an easy app sign-up process and a slick-looking ‘CCS Hypercharger’.

The rate races to 89kW (the Ypsilon’s limit is 100kW) and all is well – until suddenly it isn’t. The charging process terminates halfway for no obvious reason and fails to restart.

Then the car bongs loudly and says: “Electric traction system failure: stop the vehicle, see user manual.” Ah.

There’s work to be done then, and the technicians tell me later they could find no fault with the car. When I visit the FCA Heritage Hub, the guide suggests some Italians aren’t too hot on the Ypsilon either, unconvinced by the design and annoyed that it’s built in Spain.

It’s evident that rebuilding Lancia is going to be difficult in many ways – but when you see the history the brand has and the passion it still evokes, you realise why it’s an effort worth making. 

Europe was changing. We'd experienced the revolutionary Autumn of Nations in 1989, which began in Poland and soon spread like wildfire behind the Iron Curtain.

By the end of that year, democracy had returned to Czechoslovakia. Just a year later, the very linchpin of communism, the Soviet Union, fell apart. And Yugoslavia was soon to follow, violently disintegrating into several Balkan states from 1992. 

And so, unbeknownst to Autocar's testers, our November 1990 test of the three superminis representing these countries (or 'cheaps from the old Bloc', as we put it) was, in a way, the last hurrah for commie cars — loved and maligned as they had been by the British public for the previous decades.

Those three cars were the Skoda Favorit 136LX (£5446), the Lada Samara 1300SL (£5549) and the Yugo Sana 1.4 (£5495). Each was front-engined and front-wheel drive and the result of their overseers' swallowing of national pride. Italians and Germans had helped Skoda; Brits had done work for Lada; and Italians had assisted Yugo.

Which was the best bet?

"None of these cars will be bought for its performance," we said, "but all will provide adequate mobility for the family and none can be considered underpowered.

"As expected, the Yugo, with a Fiat Tipo 70bhp 1.4-litre engine, has the legs on the others. It will buzz and thrash its way to 97mph, passing 60mph in 13.2sec and managing 30-70mph in 14.1sec. Quite why the engine feels and sounds so gruff in this installation is a mystery.

"The Lada isn't far behind. The Soviet's 65bhp 1.3-litre iron/alloy engine, with siamesed valves in a non-crossflow cylinder head, doesn't savour revving. Only the cloth-eared will extract all of the available performance. It runs out of puff at 93mph, reaches 60mph in 13.4sec and records a 30-70mph time of 15.6sec.

"The Skoda, with the least powerful, 62bhp all-alloy engine, will hit 92mph, pulls lustily past 60mph in 14.3sec and keeps the driver waiting for 15.7sec during the 30-70mph increment. It makes up for its less spritely performance by having by far the most responsive, eager engine.

"The Lada is a stable and unfussed motorway cruiser — probably this car's best feature — while the Yugo trundles along at a respectable pace, but with more engine noise intrusion than can reasonably be expected and an accompanying chatter of creaks and rattles from poorly fitted interior trim items.

"The Lada's brakes are, by far, the least effective of the bunch. Travel is long and a continuous push would have the pedal go all the way down to the carpet. Stopping power was weak and, if stamped on hard, there was evidence of premature rear wheel lock-up."

The Skoda also came to the fore in terms ride and handling: "By any standards of the popular hatch market," we continued, "it's well suspended, reasonably composed and able to soak up most that's thrown at it. But it does suffer from slightly insipid damping which can sometimes be felt at the most unexpected times: for instance, during motorway cruising. The Lada lacks composure, as does the Yugo.

"The Lada jolts in and out of ruts and ridges, sometimes sending quite severe shocks through the bodyshell. It likes things to be smooth, and provided nothing upsets the suspension mid-corner, it shows a safe, progressive, understeering stance.

"The Yugo takes unresponsive steering to a new low in this company. On home-produced tyres, its steering is unacceptably heavy at parking speeds, and though less effort is required as speed increases, it remains decidedly dead and stodgy. The ride is lively and uncoordinated, larger shocks being heard (and felt) as they are fed through the bodyshell. The Yugo is a dogged and determined understeerer. Its dynamic responses are a throwback to the dark, early days of front-wheel-drive chassis behaviour. 

"Driven in convoy over a variety of tight and twisty Cornish roads, it was the Favorit that won the testers over. The Skoda felt good to drive, with prompt turn-in and a sure-footed stance through corners, whereas the others were harder work on the arms and less precise in road positioning."

Much is made of interior material quality these days, with the words 'squidgy', 'soft-touch' and 'plush' appearing all too often. These three cars would positively horrify today's testers.

We wrote: "Only the Yugo is provided with a soft-touch wheel of pleasing proportions and thick enough rim. The Skoda's semi-soft wheel is thin and insubstantial, while the Lada's larger-diameter wheel is spindly and poorly finished. The Sana comes closest to an optimum seat-wheel-pedals relationship.

"The Yugo's facia is also, at first sight, the most appealing, with a reasonable standard of finish, a plethora of ventilation nozzles and a comprehensively packed instrument binnacle. In practice, it works less effectively. The gearchange is mounted too far forward and suffers from an ill-defined gate and over-long throw.

"In terms of ambience, the Skoda comes next. Its facia looks integrated; again, there are sufficient ventilation outlets (though output is poor) and an acceptably designed instrument binnacle. A large analogue clock dominates the display where a rev counter would be better employed. Insubstantial stalks control the usual functions. The gearchange deserves praise (in this company), though, for its fast and smooth operation.

"The Lada is the least appealing. The front seats are set too low and the seat-wheel relationship is poor. The driver's environment is dominated by the wheel and a tacky-looking instrument pod with voltmeter and economy vacuum gauges included. Flimsy stalks correspond to the European norm. Other switchgear appears on a centre console that has the appearance of an afterthought. The gearchange is a stretch too far away, and the long throws require some delicacy." 

Okay, prospective buyers would say, I expected that. But how about practical applications? After all, these cars would mostly serve as family transport, be that primary or secondary. 

Well, we continued: "The Yugo provides the most comfort and space. The car's size means that it can be considered genuine five-seater. The front seats are well bolstered and sufficiently supportive, but the rear bench, complete with centre armrest, is less generously padded and set too low for full squab support. It also features static rear seatbelts — an unwelcome throwback. Rear head and leg room is plentiful. Lifting the rear hatch reveals a usefully low sill and a deep load area, compromised in width by suspension turret intrusion.

"The Skoda's front seats score barely average marks for comfort and are lacking in lumbar support. Although a few inches more compact than the Yugo, the Favorit's rear bench seat, with integral head restraints, is surprisingly comfortable and offers plenty of knee room, although three adults abreast is a squeeze. The rear hatch opens usefully low, but the load area is again compromised by rear suspension intrusion, and the door aperture by the rear lamp clusters.

"The Lada is the longest of the three cars by three inches, but it doesn't make best use of the available space. The front seats are extremely poor. They are too low, meanly padded and bereft of lateral location. Headrests are intrusive and the seat covering material was already looking grubby, despite our test car's low mileage. Rear seating is spartan but acceptably comfortable. Opening the rear hatch reveals a high sill, which partly negates the very purpose of a hatchback. The load area is usefully large, but again with some turret intrusion."

Overall build quality was as shoddy as parts of the cars' designs.

The article went on: "The Yugo has distortions and rippling of its main panels. Inside, it suffers from poor assembly. The facia is prone to scuttle-shake tremors, giving rise to many creaks and rattles. A one-piece headlining panel wobbles disconcertingly. The overall impression is that it was lashed together against the clock.

"Fair to middling would summarise the Skoda's exterior, while inside scrappy, sharp-edged door bins do little to enhance quality and the facia of the test car vibrated in sympathy with an out-of-balance wheel. Money has been spent in curious ways. The glovebox, for no logical reason, is 'assisted' by a miniature gas strut.

"'Must try harder' is the only message for the Lada's finish. The paintwork of the test car appeared to vary substantially in thickness of application and the orange peel effect was, in places, of mountainous proportions. An impression of having been chucked out of the factory without any quality control inspection was exacerbated by side decals that were a peeling mass of air-bubbles." 

The big redeemer, however, was the standard equipment, which was much better than that of any base-line Western European economy car. The Skoda came with alloy wheels, a radio/cassette player, a top-class toolkit and a "beautifully made" removable torch. The Lada had a heated rear window and rear wash/wipe, plus a less impressive toolkit and a tyre pump. The Yugo also boasted most of these convenience items, but a stereo was extra, as it was on the Lada. 

There was a clear winner in the test, and perhaps unsurprisingly it was the brand that nowadays makes some brilliant cars and as a result is hugely successful. Despite Skoda being the butt of many jokes back then, we believed the Favorit did not deserve any such reputation. It was well above its two rivals and could be compared with any opposition, irrespective of nationality.

We said: "It rides and handles well, turns in to corners eagerly and functions as a complete package without quirks. It is comprehensively equipped and looks like it should stand the test of time. It is well developed and can even be fun to drive. It offers masses of features for the money, and underneath the obvious value-for-money image, it is a thoroughly engineered car with a pleasing, willing nature."

Lada is now mostly restricted to Russia and surrounding countries. We could have predicted that, having tested the Samara. "Tough and durable for a trip over the Urals it may be," we said, "but the fit and finish for the UK market can only be described as dismal. If that isn't bad enough, the operation of the brakes leaves much to be desired."

As for the Yugo, we commented: "It feels flimsy and is shoddily put together in the most obvious areas. It could also benefit from a comprehensive ride and handling development programme. It might be streets ahead in the showroom stakes, but not on the road." Its maker, Zastava, never really rose above such cars and went bankrupt 10 years ago.

Electric NA or all the bells-and-whistles ND: on which MX-5 would my £35,000 (ish) go? Honestly, it’s the new one. But it’s closer than I thought it would have been.

The ‘NA’ you see here is indeed an electric car. When I wrote about it before, it garnered fury from the world of car bores. “Not a propa MX-5,” sang the chorus of middle-aged men in the online comments. But it ’s the real McCoy, rather than a soyboy.

The good folk at Oxfordshire based Electrogenic have ripped out the old 1.6 -litre four-banger and replaced it with a single electric motor powering the rear wheels. It makes 160bhp and 229lb ft of torque. Range is said to be in the region of 160 miles and, no, it ’s not a manual.

The ND Mazda MX-5 here is top banana in the range, called the Homura. To recap, up front is the familiar 181bhp 2.0 -litre atmo engine.

At the back, it’s kept simple with the regular fabric hood, not the fancy metal roof of the MX-5 RF. There are also 17in BBS alloy wheels, Recaro seats, a Bose sound system, Bilstein dampers, a limited-slip differential, a track mode and Brembo calipers.

Ostensibly, the ND stays closer to Mazda’s original 11-herbs-and-spices recipe than Electrogenic’s NA – perhaps just extending the ingredients list to 13 or 14 and adding a bit of kick.

The EV doesn’t stray too far from the 11, but it does change one of the vital elements, that of course being the powertrain. 

Its instant torque is doled out via an open diff with no traction control whatsoever. This was fine for the original 115bhp NA, but for the EV, complete with skinny eco tyres at the rear, things get slidey really quickly.

It gets Eco, Normal and Sport modes that dispense differing levels of performance. Eco gives roughly the same zap as a regular petrolpowered NA; Normal is a bit like a 2.0 -litre NC; while Sport offers enough pep to keep up with the ND – on paper, at least. 

Off paper, the instant shove from the motor overwhelms the tyres if you dare use more than 50% throttle on anything other than bone-dry Tarmac.

With the ND, you have to work a lot harder for the power, which frankly is quite a lot more satisfying. You really need to hit 7000rpm to get the most out of it, and of course you get to shift through the six gears to keep the engine in that sweet rev band.

It’s slightly ironic that the dinojuice car is more technologically advanced. It has a slippy diff and a clever track mode – which in the winter, on the short circuit at Bicester Heritage, really flattered my driving. I’m no great drifter, but you may have been fooled. It lets go progressively and only really steps in if you’re getting very, very loose.

The electric NA will spin an inside wheel for days (I’m certain that I could lay a one-tyre fire for the entirety of its 160 -mile range), whereas the ND grips and grips and loosens gradually.

Truth be told, both MX-5s were extraordinarily fun to rag around a tight circuit on a greasy day. But both are pretty different to drive from one another and different again from the original NA.

There’s little sense running this as a strict either/or scenario, because the cars are so dissimilar. They both offer something unique.

The EV is absolutely absurd. At the time of writing, I still don’t know how much it costs, but it’s likely to be even more than the top-spec, brand-spankers ND and probably the price of six or seven really nicely sorted regular NAs. And it will do only 160 miles on a charge.

It’s probably a touch quicker, but it ’s less fun and satisfying than the ND, because there are no gears to change, no engine to rev and no delayed gratification. It makes some nice, industrial-sounding whirrs and, believe it or not, it feels quite mechanical. Plus digitisation is kept to a real minimum, with neat touches such as the battery gauge tucked away in the glovebox.

This comparison is all a bit academic, of course, because the ND could be a one-car solution, whereas the EV isn’t even a second car; it’s a third or fourth one.

Most importantly, though, the light, communicative steering, judged-to-perfection seating position and near-50:50 weight distribution I love about MX-5s are found in both of these cars. Phew.

Global companies are plotting a fightback in China against the rise of Chinese brands, with next week’s Shanghai motor show offering them the perfect stage to show off their recovery.

New models from the likes of Audi, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan and Volkswagen will take to the stands in a bid to convince showgoers that they're still relevant in this electrified, tech-led age.

Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume called the German company’s Shanghai new-model extravaganza a "milestone" in its reinvention to counter local brands.

“Our products are tailored to the needs of Chinese customers, with a clear design language and cutting-edge technologies,” he said in a statement.

Attracting the biggest crowd of all the global car makers' displays will likely be that combining both Audi (four rings) and its alter ego AUDI (four letters). The latter will be showing off the highly anticipated E5 Sportback, the first of its new youth-oriented, China-specific models with a tech-led spin, including an advanced semi-autonomous mode.

Meanwhile on the Volkswagen stands will be three concept cars, two of which are electric SUVs and the other the brand’s first ever range-extender model, entering a hot new category for EVs with an on-board petrol generator.

By 2030, Volkswagen Group is targeting 15% of the Chinese market with models it promises will be more than 80% electric or plug-in hybrid. 

Five years ago, that statement would have been insane, given that in 2020 the Volkswagen Group had a 19% share of the market.

But the rapid evolution of local brands operated by the likes of BYD, Chery, Geely and Li Auto have slashed away that leadership to the point that in the first quarter this year, the market share of all German brands combined – including Mercedes and BMW – stood at just 17%, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Meanwhile, over the same time frame, sales of Chinese brands surged to 63% of the market, up from 41% in 2021.

The punishment dealt to the likes of the Japanese (a 12% share in the first quarter, down from 23% in 2021) and the Americans (a 5.7% share, down from 10%) has damaged them financially.

For example, General Motors booked a $4.1 billion (£3.1bn) write-down on its Chinese operations for its 2024 accounts, with one of its joint-venture plants reported slated for closure.

Nissan meanwhile cut 500,000 units of capacity from its manufacturing operations in China after last year closing the Changzhou plant it ran with Dongfeng.

But China is too big to cut and run from. Stellantis chairman John Elkann told shareholders at the firm's AGM on 15 April that he believed the car market in China this year would be greater than the American and European markets combined.

The joint venture between Dongfeng and Peugeot/Citroën might be on its last legs and Maserati’s China sales may have been down 73% last year, but Stellantis has stayed engaged with China via its innovative link-up with Leapmotor.

With the US throwing up tariff barriers to car makers not building there and the European market shrinking, China has taken on a renewed importance. 

“Even though the market conditions have shifted significantly, even though China is a different place now than it was maybe three or four years ago, I would say that we're staying the course,” Mercedes’ CEO Ola Källenius said on his company’s annual earnings call on 20 February.

China was still Mercedes’ biggest market last year, taking 34% of its global total despite a sales drop. The 683,568 cars it shifted there last year was double its US tally.

Likewise, BMW continues to heavily rely on China, with the market still accounting for 29% of its sales in 2024, at 715,000. The US meanwhile accounted for 16%.

“The China market is very big. You're talking about 25 million units per year. And even if it's a 20%, 25% share for European manufacturers, you're still talking about a huge marketplace,” BMW sales head Jochen Goller said on the firm's annual earnings call on 14 March.

BMW saw its China sales fall 17% in the first three months of the year amid a wider premium slowdown, but the company is planning to launch 10 new models this year and another 20 in the following two years. Many are tailored to the Chinese market, for example the new long-wheelbase X3 SUV that will take a bow at Shanghai.

Like many other global companies, BMW is scrabbling to overcome its perceived technology shortfall compared with more nimble Chinese players. It has just launched the new 5 Series with local firm Joynext’s V2X communications tech linking it to connected street furniture like traffic lights and other cars, paving the way for safer autonomy.

While some like Ford, GM and Nissan are closing plants to reduce excess capacity, Toyota has secured land in Shanghai to build a wholly owned EV plant there – only the second foreign firm after Tesla to do so without the assistance of a Chinese partner.

At Shanghai, Toyota's premium brand, Lexus, will unveil the latest version of its big-selling ES saloon, which it says “refines advanced electrification”.

Not all foreign companies are on board with the Shanghai 2025 display of optimism. Missing from the exhibitor map are Citroën, Chevrolet, Genesis, Hyundai, JLR, Kia and Peugeot. This looks gloomy, given the accepted wisdom at the big Chinese shows is to turn up or risk customers thinking you’ve lost your appetite for the fight and are heading for the exit. 

That might still be true for some, like Peugeot and Citroën, but more likely is that the smaller foreign brands, already suffering financially from the never-ending price war in the country, are heeding their global account departments and pulling their motor show budgets, as they’ve done in the US and Europe.

It also avoids the awkward sight of crowds surging past your stand of older ICE models to reach the hottest new Chinese EV.

That threat will be reduced somewhat this year after the news that tech brand Xiaomi won’t be showing off its new electric SUV, but plenty more local brands will gathering their armies of influencers to ensure they gain that crucial show buzz.

“Don’t worry, the Chinese will pack it out,” one Chinese car executive told Autocar.

With their new local partnerships and fresh launches, the global players (excluding the luxury brands) will become indistinguishable from the locals at shows like Shanghai. It’s becoming the only way to survive.