Lancia Megagamma
{{short description|Concept car designed by Italdesign}}
{{Infobox automobile
|caption = 1978 Lancia Megagamma
|image = Megagamma1 big.jpg
|name = Lancia Megagamma
|manufacturer = Lancia
|production = 1978
|predecessor =
|successor = Lancia Zeta
Lancia Musa
|class=Concept compact MPV
|body_style=5-door minivan
| platform =
|layout = FF layout
| engine = 2.5 L 2484 cc Lancia H4
| transmission =
| wheelbase = {{convert|2670|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}{{cite web|url=http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=102751|title=Technical specifications of 1978 Lancia Megagamma|access-date=2007-12-30|work=carfolio.com}}
| length = {{convert|4310|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}
| width = {{convert|1780|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}
| height = {{convert|1617|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}
| weight = {{convert|1040|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}{{cite web|url=http://www.carsplusplus.com/specs1978/lancia_megagamma.php|title=Lancia Megagamma 1978|access-date=2007-12-31|work=carsplusplus.com}}
| aka =
| related = Lancia Gamma
| designer = Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign
}}
The Lancia Megagamma is a small, almost one-box, concept MPV, designed by Italdesign and introduced at the 1978 Turin Motor Show.{{cite web|url=http://www.italdesign.it/dinamic/milestones/megagamma.html|title=Megagamma|access-date=2007-12-31|work=italdesign.it|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320171842/http://www.italdesign.it/home|archive-date=2012-03-20}} In retrospect the Megagamma was more influential on later designs than it was itself successful, becoming the "conceptual birth mother of the MPV/minivan movement."{{cite web
| title = Lancia Megagamma (1978)
| publisher = Car Design News
| author = Karl Smith
| date = August 14, 2015
| url = https://cardesignnews.com/articles/concept-car-of-the-week/2015/08/lancia-megagamma-1978}}
Featuring high seating h-points measured both off the vehicle floor as well as the pavement and a 0.34 coefficient of drag, the Megagamma used a front engined, front-wheel drive layout based on the Lancia Gamma platform with a Lancia SOHC 2.5 litre flat-4 engine and Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection.
Italdesign showed an enduring commitment to exploring one-box designs, having preceded the Megagamma with the 1976 Alfa Romeo New York Taxi concept and followed the Megagamma with the 1982 Capsula, 2000 Maserati Buran and 2010 Proton EMAS.
The Megagamma itself presaged many attributes of the modern MPVs — notably a roomy but compact, flexible cabin with a flat floor{{cite book|last=Tumminelli|first=Paolo|title=Car Design|publisher=teNeues|year=2004|page=66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Plwd2uG8ZAQC|isbn=3-8238-4561-6}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jyanet.com/cap/1998/0213fe3.htm|title=30 Years of ItalDesign|access-date=2008-01-03|publisher=Jack Yan & Associates|year=1998}} not unlike such notable antecedents as the Volkswagen Type 2 (1950) and the DKW Schnellaster (1949-1962) and such notable succeeding mini/compact MPV's as the Nissan Prairie (1981), Fiat 500L (2011) and Mitsubishi Chariot (1983) — as well as a wide array of similarly sized and larger MPVs including the Renault Espace, Honda Shuttle and Chrysler minivans.
At the time of its debut, Lancia's parent company, Fiat, viewed the concept as too risky{{cite web|url=http://www.italiaspeed.com/2004/cars/fiat/11/new_large/0111.html|title=News|access-date=2007-12-30|work=italiaspeed.com}} and it did not reach production. However the tall, box-like styling language of the concept would appear again in Giugiaro's later supermini designs for Fiat in the form of the Panda (1980) and Uno (1983).