The Lancia Stratos is instantly recognizable, not only due to its exotic shape, but for the splash it made on the automotive scene, purposely built for rally racing and burning the Alitalia racing livery into our brains forever. The Stratos never saw a follow-up, which certainly played a part in it becoming an icon of the era, but in case parent company FCA wanted to bring the nameplate back today, an artist rendering shows what it might look like.
The rendering comes to us from Bold Ride and Hansen Art, styling a new Stratos out of the existing Alfa Romeo 4C. It’s more than just slapping its famous signature livery on an existing car, however. A 4C-based spiritual successor would make a lot of sense. Like the Stratos, the Alfa is a small, mid-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car. The Lancia was powered by a 2.4-liter V6 that came from Ferrari after the Dino went out of production. 500 of these engines were used to make road cars, satisfying homologation rules and allowing the Stratos to race.
The Alfa Romeo 4C wasn’t purpose built for racing, but its mid-mounted 1.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine makes it pretty spry, producing 237 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque.
Nowadays, four-wheel drive is the name of the rally game, but upping the power output and crafting a modern iteration of the legendary Lancia for road use is something we’d be perfectly happy with.
