Lancia Kappa Coupe

Production period:	1997 to 2000
Class :	motor car
Body versions :	Coupe
Engines:	Gasoline : 2.0-3.0 liters (129-162 kW)
Length:	4560 mm
Width:	1825 mm
Height:	1430 mm
Wheelbase :	2580 mm
Curb weight :	1425-1630 kg

The Lancia Kappa Coupé (Lancia kC) is a coupe based on the Lancia Kappa sedan. The Manufacture Maggiora made the car for Lancia from January 1997 to March 2000. 

History

Lancia has always complemented its own lineup of exclusive coupes and convertibles, developed by bodywork companies themselves and then distributed through the Lancia dealer network. Sometimes there were up to four different competing models based on the same car. However, the market for these vehicles has become increasingly unattractive, as these hand-crafted vehicles often cost more than products from pure sports car manufacturers.

After the closure of the Lancia Gamma Coupe in the summer of 1984, two years later at the Turin Motor Show a car built by the Carrozzeria Boneschi coupe was presented based on the theme , which, however, did not go into series. Apart from the doors, this did not differ from the saloon. 

When the Kappa came on the market as a successor to the theme in late summer 1994, the idea of ​​a larger coupe was taken up again, but now with an independent body. Based on the Kappa two studies for a coupe. Paolo Martin designed the study K 2000 Coupe at Bonasea .Lancia ultimately commissioned the Maggiora Manufacture to design and manufacture a Kappa-based coupe. This had previously taken over the old Lancia plant Chivasso. Responsible for the design were Gianna Maggiora, the daughter of the company owner, and Enrico Fumia of Centro Stile Lancia.

At the Turin Motor Show in 1996, the Kappa Coupé was first presented. When it appeared in April 1997, the sedan had been on the market for almost three years.The final design reminded creatively of the Lancia Flaminia Coupé and had a formal independence from the sedan. Together with it, the Coupé up to the A-pillar, the front, the windshield, the dashboard and the powertrain. Despite the small number of pieces was hardly resorted to existing parts. Rear end and the seats and side panels have been redesigned.

Compared to the sedan, the coupe is 37 millimeters lower and the wheelbase shortened 12 cm. The value of the drag coefficient has thereby improved to 0.37. The rear window drops fluently to the rear and is flanked by two indicated tail fins. A reduction of the body compared to sedans is quite common in coupes. The window band is framed by a polished stainless steel bracket. The trunk volume is 500 liters. 

From the beginning, the Kappa Coupé was designed as a low-volume niche vehicle. The production capacity at the Maggiora factory in Chivasso was a maximum of 3,000 vehicles a year, since at the same time the roadster Fiat Barchetta was still being manufactured there.  The daily production in 1999 was just five cars. The Carrozzeria Maggiora in Chivasso made a total of 3271 copies. The allocation of the serial numbers did not take place chronologically. Numbers between # 0011 and # 3308 were assigned, with the first vehicle carrying the # 0020 and the last the # 3306. The copies # 0011-0050 were pure experimental vehicles without assigned indication of the interior.

The Kappa Coupe was available only in a trim level, which corresponded to the highest variant LX in the other models. Thus, the Alcantara upholstery was on the Recaro seats series, as well as the blue-tinted heat protection glazing "Solextra", the headlight washer, fog lamps, heated seats, leather steering wheel and rear roller blinds, and electrically folding mirrors. The Alcantara cover could be ordered in four different colors (Bordeaux, Green, Gray Anthracite, as well as ice) When overturning the front seats, these drive electrically forward to facilitate boarding to the rear. As standard, there were also specially designed for the Coupe 16 "rims by Speedline .

There were seven different body colors to choose from. The traditional Lancia Blue was the only one not a metallic paint and came, as well as Mercury Gray and Pluto Green , from the sedan. Exclusively reserved for the Coupé: Black Storm , Energy Blue , Power Red and Saturn Blue . No color was extra charge. Only the 2.0t 20V had to differentiate in body color painted door handles, all other versions had chrome door handles.

In May 1998 a update. From then on there were bumpers painted in body color. In the interior there was from now on a center armrest, the wood imitations in the interior were henceforth shiny and no longer dull. Also, the design of the steering wheel has changed. 

The frameless windows are automatically lowered slightly when opening the door, but this leads to a higher stress on the power windows unlike the saloon. The mechanics and the engine of the window lift are therefore different. In general, the doors must be adjusted occasionally, as otherwise due to the high weight abrasions on the paint of the door rebate and the seals can occur.The seats are electrically adjusted. When folding the backrest they move forward to facilitate the exit of the rear passengers. After folding back the seat moves back to the original position. Occasionally, however, not exactly the previous position is controlled, so that thereafter a re-adjustment of the seat may be necessary. Many vehicles have this error, one cause is not found. Unlike the saloon, no memory function was available for three stored positions.

As extras  real leather, in which twelve color variants  a suspension with electronically adjustable damping, xenon headlights , a electric sunroof fo

The LineaAccessori line of accessories included a wooden steering wheel, matching trunk pockets , parking sensors and other rims.

The Kappa Coupé is derived from the sedan and also built on the Tipo 4 platform, which was first used in 1984 in the jointly developed models Alfa 164 , Lancia theme , Fiat Croma and Saab 9000 and on the last of the 1998 introduced Alfa Romeo 166 based. Significant differences between the Lancia and the Alfa Romeo exist in the construction of the suspension.

With the sedan, the coupe has the same front, the same dashboard and the same powertrain up to the A-pillar. There are differences in the suspension of the rear axle, as well as other shock absorbers have been installed.

The body, from the A-pillar and the interior, except for the dashboard, however, have been redesigned. Few small parts that had no major impact on the overall design were parts of the group, some of which were slightly redesigned. For example, the license plate illumination is the same as in the Lancia theme and in the Maserati Quattroporte . The taillights have the same cover glass as a second-generation version of the Lancia Delta , but the Coupé they were mounted offset and edged with a polished stainless steel strap. The button in the glove box to open the tailgate comes from the cockpit of the van Fiat Ducato , but is printed differently.

The Kappa Coupe was always built in three different engines, of which were available until the facelift in May 1998, only two in Germany:

The slowest, but most powerful engine was the version available in Italy, Belgium and Switzerland with the 2.0 four-cylinder 16V turbo engine with 205 hp to the revision . The most frequently chosen engine was the five-cylinder 2.4-liter 20V with 175 hp 

The engine with the largest displacement was the Alfa Romeo- derived throttled 3.0-liter V6-cylinder-24V engine with 204 hp and standard automatic transmission . The 4-speed automatic transmission of the 3.0 was supplied by ZF until the beginning of 1999 (one year after the facelift) (code 838CD), then a 5-speed automatic transmission from Aisin was installed (code 838CD11A). It is considered more comfortable, because of the convenient possibility of tapping the gears and led to a change in driving performance: the acceleration improved from 0 to 100 km / h in 8.9 s instead of 9.8 s previously; the top speed dropped by 5 km / h to 220 km / h. Pollutant emissions increased by 6 g / km to 300 g / km and EU standard fuel consumption 0.4 l from 12.3 l to 12.7 l.