Start with what the Lancia Augusta is: a 4-door saloon / 2-door cabriolet with 1,196 , built from 1933 to 1936, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. What it meant takes a little longer. 17,217 were built.
The story
The Lancia Augusta is a small passenger car produced by Italian car manufacturer Lancia between 1933 and 1936. It made its première at the 1932 Paris Motor Show.
The car was powered by a 1,196 cc Lancia V4 engine. During the 1920s, Lancia 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.
What is underneath
The engine is 1,196 . On the scales it comes to 850 kg. Drive goes through a 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 265 cm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Lancia line-up the Lancia Augusta has a clear place: it handed the line to the Lancia Ardea. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Chevrolet Suburban, the Bugatti Type 57, the Delahaye 134. Nearby in the Lancia catalogue sit the Lancia 037 and the Lancia 2000.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Lancia Augusta has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.