After the takeover of Lancia by Pesenti in 1955 there was money to develop new models. Having designed the Flaminia, technical director Antonio Fessia was given a free hand and chose to design a car with front-wheel drive.
Only DKW, Adler and Citroën had so far successfully made front wheel drive cars but the concept had a big drawback, reactions by the driven wheels were felt at the steering wheel. The Flavia is generally regarded as the first to solve this problem. Reputedly some Flavia owners only discovered that they had front-wheel drive when they fitted snow chains on the rear wheels! To reduce weight ahead of the front axle and keep the centre of gravity low the Flavia has a boxer engine, being shorter and a lot lower than a four in line. It went into production as a 1.5 litre but was felt to be underpowered and soon grew to 1.8 and finally 2 litres.

Engine, gearbox and suspension are attached to a subframe that is fitted in rubber to the body shell. Front suspension is double wishbone with a transverse leaf spring while at the rear a light tubular axle is supported on leaf springs. All Flavias have disc brakes front and rear with vacuum assistance, and power steering was an option from 1967.
The styling of the early Berlina was very outspoken and it received a facelift in 1967, the Flavia Milleotto. Following the takeover by Fiat in 1969 there was a second restyling in 1971 and the Flavia name was dropped. The new model was renamed 2000 to indicate a new start.

Pininfarina designed a beautiful Coupé, Vignale a Convertible that seated four and Zagato made the Sport - even by Zagato-standards its styling was extreme.

The Flavia set a standard of ride quality that is still unmatched today by many modern cars and it is a perfect car for everyday use.