Lancia dabbled in Greek letter naming of its vehicles at the turn of the century, making its way through a succession of Greek letters before moving on to the Roman roads naming convention. Among our favorite of the old Greek models was the Lambda, a 70mph 1920s unitary body feat of design and engineering. The Roman road names began (we believe) with the Astura, and continued through the end of Fulvia production.

The reintroduction of Greek letters was accompanied by a Fiat takeover and a new lust, by those responsible for the corporate coffers at least, to introduce scaled production and profitability. Lancia vehicles had, to this point, been the dreams of engineers, and sold with high prices to compensate for low production. With Fiat at the helm, the Beta series was introduced with lofty production targets and reduced development spending; understandably, many Lancia engineers walked out during this transition.