PLEXIGLAS® Optical HT makes Lancia’s light chalice shine

• The next-generation Lancia Ypsilon showcases an elegant lighting motif, heralding the iconic Italian brand’s electric era
• PMMA molding compounds from Röhm deliver appealing design freedom for signature front lights
• PLEXIGLAS® Optical HT combines good optical quality with a higher heat deflection temperature under increased long-term service temperatures

It is an exciting time for automotive design. The transition to electric powertrains represents a pivotal moment for many brands, inspiring them to reinvent themselves. Lighting symbolizes the beginning of the electric era, and the iconic Italian brand Lancia – now operating as a premium brand as part of the multinational automotive company Stellantis – is no exception.

The new Lancia Ypsilon is the flagship of the brand’s own electric renaissance. The innovative redesign of Lancia’s popular compact car was unveiled in Milan in February 2024. The eye-catching chrome-plated grille is no more. Instead, its distinctive shape – the Lancia chalice or “Calice” in Italian – has been reimagined as a sleek lighting motif. The three razor-like light strips  – two horizontal long strips converging into one short vertical strip – serve as daytime running lights. When night falls, they form the brand’s unmistakable new signature front lights. As Lancia CEO Luca Napolitano explains, the light chalice represents the brand’s shift toward electromobility and will therefore adorn the front-end of the next three model releases.

PLEXIGLAS® Optical HT: The material of choice for long light guides

For the Lancia Ypsilon, Magna Lighting’s lighting experts manufacture the light guides housed inside the 50 cm horizontal LED light strips from PLEXIGLAS® Optical HT. This polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) molding compound from Röhm offers a unique set of characteristics that make it particularly ideal for long light guides in automotive lighting. “We developed PLEXIGLAS® Optical HT especially for use in applications subject to increased long-term service temperatures. The crystal-clear molding compound combines the proven optical properties of PLEXIGLAS® with an increased heat deflection temperature. Resistant to thermal aging, the material retains its optical clarity,” explains Rafal Czoków, Senior Business Manager in the Molding Compounds business unit at Röhm GmbH.

“Many conventional materials on the market shine in just one aspect. Either they offer the requisite optical parameters but cannot withstand high long-term service temperatures, or the other way round. We opted for PLEXIGLAS® Optical HT because it delivers on both requirements,” says Miroslav Havlásek, Program Manager Lighting at Magna Mechatronics, Mirrors & Lighting, explaining what drove the company’s choice of material.

In addition, the good processing properties of PLEXIGLAS® Optical HT enable the production of exceptionally long, slim components via injection molding. The material’s outstanding optical clarity also ensures excellent light-guiding properties over extended lengths. Production of light guides longer than 50 cm – a feature increasingly sought after in cutting-edge automotive design – becomes possible.

Evolutionary Italian futurism

The Lancia Ypsilon model’s cutting-edge exterior design echoes the evolutionary Italian futurism expressed in the Lancia’s dynamic concept vehicle Pu+Ra – the first vehicle to introduce the iconic light chalice with its three characteristic razor-like light strips. The design team has made no exception for the new Ypsilon, crafting a vehicle for an electric future that embodies this guiding principle: elegant, clean, simple.