The latest case of internet imagination completely outrunning industrial reality comes courtesy of digital creator Filippo Penati. His stunning, unofficial render of a resurrected Lancia Beta Montecarlo has set automotive forums ablaze, offering a painful, beautiful reminder of what Italian sports cars used to look like before everything became a high-riding corporate electric appliance.
Penati’s vision reimagines the classic silhouette as a low, wide, compact supercar painted in an intense, striking blue. Boasting sharp headlights, a razor-thin front grille, massive bumper air intakes, and a continuous horizontal light bar cutting across the rear with bold “Montecarlo” lettering dominating the tailgate. With an advanced cabin, multi-spoke wheels, an aggressive rear diffuser, and a glaringly exposed mid-engine bay, it is exactly the kind of emotional halo car Lancia desperately needs.
The original Lancia Beta Montecarlo was born in the mid-1970s out of a stranded Fiat-Pininfarina project, eventually rescued and weaponized thanks to the performance contribution of Abarth. Following the wild SE 030 prototype that starred at the 1974 Giro d’Italia, the production vehicle made its official debut at the 1975 Geneva Motor Show.
It was a proper mid-engine two-seater sporting a 2.0-liter Lampredi twin-cam engine pushing out a modest but charismatic 120 HP, manufactured by Pininfarina in Grugliasco as both a sleek Coupé and a removable-roof Spider. More importantly, its DNA went far beyond the street, spawning the legendary Beta Turbo Montecarlo Group 5 racer that dominated the World Sportscar Championship and providing the technical bedrock for the mythical Lancia 037.
Fast forward to today, and the cold reality of the Stellantis empire paints a starkly different picture for the historic brand. While we wait for the upcoming Lancia Gamma to roll off the assembly lines in Melfi as a critical pillar of the brand’s alleged rebirth, the broader corporate trajectory looks less like a motorsport revival and more like strategic downsizing.
Stellantis executive Antonio Filosa’s strategic plan, outlined on May 21, mapped out a new corporate structure that reorders Lancia into a highly “specialized”, niche role awkwardly tucked beneath the mainstream Fiat umbrella area.
