The Lancia Musa (Type 350) is a five-passenger

compact MPV Compact MPV (an abbreviation for Compact Multi-Purpose Vehicle) is a vehicle size class for the middle size of MPVs. The Compact MPV size class sits between the mini MPV and large MPV (minivan) size classes. Compact MPVs remain predominantly a ...

manufactured by

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

, and marketed by the company's

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 ...

subdivision for model years 2004 through to 2012. A front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-door design and a modified variant of the

Fiat Idea The Fiat Idea is a car manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 2003 to 2012 over a single generation with one intermediate Facelift (automotive), facelift. It is a five-passenger mini MPV with five doors. It has a front-engine, front-wheel drive l ...

, the Musa also employs the ''Project 188'' platform, originally used for the second generation Fiat Punto.

Background

The Musa design, an adaption of the

by Fabrizio Giugiaro, was initially supervised by

Flavio Manzoni Flavio Manzoni (born 7 January 1965 in Nuoro, Sardinia) is an Italian architect and automobile designer. He has held the position of Chief design officer, Chief Design Officer at Ferrari since January 2010, leading the development of many Ferrar ...

and subsequently

Marco Tencone Marco Tencone (born 1967) is an Italian automotive and industrial designer, known for his design of Lancia concept cars. Career Tencone has previously been with the Pininfarina design company, developing designs for car makers such as Honda and Fe ...

. It debuted at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show and deliveries began in Europe in October of the same year. The Musa's front and rear-end styling bears resemblance to the technically related

Lancia Ypsilon The Lancia Ypsilon is a supermini car ( B-segment) manufactured and marketed by Lancia, currently in its fourth generation and as of 2024, the marque's only model. The Ypsilon was released in 1995, as a larger and more expensive replacement to t ...

, with which it shares headlights. – accessed via the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

As a compact MPV (multi-purpose vehicle), the Musa is considered to form part of the

B-segment The B-segment is the second smallest of the European segments for passenger cars between the A-segment and C-segment, and commonly described as "small cars". The B-segment is the third largest segment in Europe by volume, accounting for 15.5% ...

of the European car market. The interior features

Alcantara Alcantara, Alcântara ( Portuguese), Alcántara (Spanish), Alcàntara, Alcàntera, El-Qantarah and (El) Kantara are all transliterations of the Arabic word ''al-qantara'' (القنطرة), meaning "the bridge". Alcantara may refer to: People * ...

or leather, as well as chrome details. Like the Fiat Idea, the Musa offers an

automated manual transmission The automated manual transmission (AMT) is a type of transmission (mechanics), transmission for motor vehicles. It is essentially a conventional manual transmission equipped with automatic actuation to operate the clutch and/or shift Gear train ...

marketed as ''Dolce Far Niente'' (''D.F.N.'') — for all engines except the eight valve version of the 1.4 ''

FIRE Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

''.

Facelift

A revised, mildly facelifted Musa premiered at the 2007

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, and debuted at Frankfurt Auto Show in October 2007, with a revised logo of Lancia, front bumper fascia with new chrome moldings, bodyside moldings with chrome inserts, LED rear lamps and a luggage compartment seventy litres larger, while and loading deck lowered by 4cm, as well as revised headliner soundproofing in the headliner. Lancia Musa Facelift rear

Options including FCA's integrated In Vehicle Infotainment system (marketed as Blue&Me), new body colours and equipment. In 2008, for the market in Italy, Lancia introduced the EcoChic version with 1.4 Fire 8v dual power (LPG and petrol) engine. In 2009, Lancia introduced a

start-stop system A start-stop system (also referred to as idling stop or micro hybrid) is a technology that automatically shuts down and restarts a vehicle's internal combustion engine to reduce idle time, with the aim of lowering fuel consumption and emissio ...

with the 1.4 Fire 16v and 1.3 Multijet II Euro 5 engines, the latter with .

Engines

References

External links

Official site

Lancisti.net - An Information Exchange and Support Community for Lancia Owners and Enthusiasts
{{Lancia timeline 1980–2019

Musa Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam province, Iran * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran * Musa Kalayeh, Gilan province, Iran * Abu M ...

Mini MPVs Compact MPVs Front-wheel-drive vehicles 2010s cars Cars introduced in 2004 Cars discontinued in 2012 fr:Fiat Idea#Lancia Musa