Lancia Trevi - History

History

Developed from the Lancia Beta, the Trevi (or Beta Trevi as it was called until 1982) was introduced in 1980. The chief engineer for the Beta was Sergio Camuffo who was also responsible for the original Beta and the Gamma and numerous other models. The Beta, which was fitted with the same interior as the Trevi, was sold for two years alongside the Trevi (and sold as the Beta Berlina) Sales literature from Lancia emphasised that the car was both luxurious and sporting in nature. Lancia´s intention was that the restyled Beta would to help re-establish Lancia´s credibility after the debacle of the rusting Betas: "Lancia´s position took an unreasonably big knock as a result of the revelation that they were buying back cars with corroded sub-frame mounting points...a new Lancia today - thanks to the over-compensation that was necessary to make their point - promises to be as rust resistant as any of its rivals" wrote UK's Autocar in 1981. The review continued to say the Trevi was "a conventional three-box saloon...it is a Beta under its skin but most the body panels and the interior are completely new." The sales literature explained that the designers set out to create a classic three-box saloon. The appearance of the car drew this comment from Autocar: "The Trevi is, to most eyes, a rather curious looking car, an odd combination of curves and angles, that produces an incipient spoiler from the slight upturn at the rear of the roof panel". The introduction of a saloon body-style was part of a general conservative trend in which existing fastback cars or unusually-styled cars were given more conventional appearances. The VW Golf body was given a boot in 1979 to become the VW Jetta, the Citroën Visa gained a grill as did the Fiat Ritmo, and the fastback Simca 1307 was restyled with a boot and sold as a Solara, and the Saab 900 was sold in booted form as the 900 CD "The residents of Staid Lane" wrote Tumminelli, "preferred conformity...as a courtesy to Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl, the old-fashioned saloon, standard bearer of the bourgeouisie, must be reanimated".

The Trevi was available initially with two engines, a 1600 and 2000, both fitted with Weber or Solex carburetors. In the UK automatic transmission was optional only on the larger engined cars. In 1981 Bosch electronic ignition was made available on the 2000IE models. This allowed the engine to produce 122 bhp at 6,400 rpm (compared to 115 bhp at 5,500 rpm). The Trevi Volumex was the last version of the car, introduced in 1982 at the Turin motor show and designed to improve performance without affecting fuel economy. Fitted with a twin scroll Roots-type supercharger (and carburettors, rather than the expected fuel injection), this increased output to 135 PS (99 kW). This development meant the Trevi was the first car fitted with a mechanically-driven supercharger in nearly five decades. It had revised front seats, a matt-black chin spoiler and plusher trim, with the seats upholstered in Zegna materials. As for the 2000IE, the Volumex also received a much-praised power steering from ZF as standard. Lancia UK did not import this version of the car to Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Production of the Trevi was discontinued in 1984. In total 36,784 examples of the Trevi were produced.