In 1950, Lancia introduced one of the world's first production V6 engines in the Lancia Aurelia. The engine was the work of Francesco De Virgilio and was developed to solve the vibration problems Lancia had experienced with its V4 engines. This was achieved by setting the vee angle to 60 degrees. It remained in production through 1970. Lancia used V6 engines in road and sports cars, the D20 had a 60 degree quad cam V6 2962 cc 217 bhp engine and the D24 3300 cc V6 engine.

Aurelia

The first-generation Aurelia engines were produced from 1950 through 1967.

1800

The 1754 cc 1800 was the first V6. Bore and stroke was 70x76 mm.

2000

The engine was expanded to 1991 cc for 1951's B21 Aurelia. Bore and stroke was 72x81.5 mm.

2300

A 2266 cc version was also produced.

2500

The largest of the original Aurelia engines was the 2451 cc 2500 introduced in 1953. It was still undersquare at 78x85.5 mm bore and stroke.

Flaminia

The engine's severe undersquare design was addressed for the 1957 Flaminia version. This lasted in production through 1970.

2500

The new engine displaced 2458 cc from a much less undersquare 80x82 mm bore and stroke.

2800

The final version was the 2775 cc engine. Bore was now 85 mm and stroke remained at 82 mm as in the 2500.

Later V6-engined Lancias

Later Lancias were powered by V6 engines designed by other manufacturers, with the Ferrari Dino V6 powering the Stratos, the PRV V6 powering early Themas, the Alfa Romeo Busso V6 powering later versions of the Thema, and versions of the Kappa and Thesis and the Chrysler Pentastar V6 in the badge-engineered 300C-based Thema.