The Lancia Augusta is a small

passenger car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

produced by Italian car manufacturer

Lancia Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...

between 1933 and 1936. It made its première at the 1932

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show () is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de V ...

. The car was powered by a 1,196 cc Lancia V4 engine. During the 1920s,

had been known as producers of sports cars and middle sized sedans: the smaller Augusta represented a departure from that tradition, and contributed to a significant growth in Lancia's unit sales during the 1930s. Nevertheless, in terms of volumes sold, the Augusta was overwhelmed by Fiat's much more aggressively priced 508 Ballila.

Lancia Belna

Lancia started its French operations on 1 October 1931. At its first factory outside of Italy, at Bonneuil-sur-Marne, Lancia built the Augusta and later Aprilia models, although named them Belna and Ardennes. Approximately 3,000 Augusta/Belna and 1,500 Aprilia/Ardennes were built. Of the approximately 3,000 Belnas built between 1934 and 1938, 2,500 were saloons and 500 bare chassis.

Georges Paulin Georges Paulin was a French Jewish dentist, acclaimed and inventive automobile designer and coachwork stylist, and died as a hero of the French Resistance during World War II. Born 1902 in a working class section of Paris, Paulin was a pioneer o ...

had invented the

retractable hardtop A retractable hardtop — also known as "coupé convertible" or "coupé cabriolet" — is a car with an automatically operated, self-storing hardtop, as opposed to the folding textile-based roof used by traditional convertible cars. Improved c ...

and had shown his designs to French

coachbuilder A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, Coach (bus), motor coaches, and passenger car (rai ...

Marcel Pourtout.

Carrosserie Pourtout Carrosserie Pourtout was a French coachbuilding company. Founded by Marcel Pourtout in 1925, the firm is best known for its work in the decades prior to World War II, when it created distinctive and prestigious bodies for cars from numerous Euro ...

built several bodies based on the French-built Lancia Belna.

References

Bibliography

External links

Lancisti.net — Community for Lancia owners and enthusiasts

Article on the 75th anniversary of the Augusta/Belna, with period and contemporary images of the French factory
{{Lancia Pre War Timeline Augusta 1930s cars Cars introduced in 1932