A City Limousine Service at Forte Dei Marmi, for an Exclusive Summer

FORTE DEI MARMI – July 16, 2008: Today at Forte dei Marmi, Olivier Francois, Managing Director of Lancia Automobiles, and Umberto Buratti, Mayor of Forte dei Marmi, presented the “Forte dei Marmi Vip Service” programme, organised with the brand new Lancia Musa Poltrona Frau city limousine.

60 very special Musas will take hold of Forte dei Marmi, the seafront and the ‘in’ bars and restaurants, at the service of tourists, to help to eliminate the traffic jams typical of the Summer months and the “holiday stress” they can cause. This elegant, exclusive car, which reflects the image of Forte dei Marmi perfectly, can be hailed in the street, available free of charge to over two million tourists who visit the resort during the Summer. The Municipal authorities chose the white Lancia Musa Poltrona Fraus with black roofs and red leather interior upholstery, fitted with particulate filters, because they are the most environment-friendly luxury MPVs on the market. This is basically the extraordinary novelty proposed by the Forte dei Marmi municipal authorities and Lancia throughout the Summer of 2008. Even the name will be customised, and on all the road signs leading into the town, the “M” of Forte dei Marmi will become the “M” of the Lancia Musa.

L.T.Z. (Lancia Traffic Zone)
From July 18 to August 31, the sixty Lancia Musas will be at the disposal of anyone who wishes to move around inside the municipal territory, including the Limited Traffic Zone of Via Pascoli and Via Mascagni, renamed the Lancia Traffic Zone for the occasion, and the most popular nightspots. To optimise the courtesy service, three parking areas will be created, identified by signs stating “Forte dei Marmi Vip Service All Areas – Parking”, where the cars will be parked, at the disposal of anyone wishing to use the service. And from there they will set off towards all possible destinations. The car parks will thus be the reference point for any passengers wishing to use the exclusive city limousine service. As well as the three parking areas, there will be four stops at strategic points in the town centre, where people will be able to hail a Lancia Musa city limousine.

Lancia coast to coast, two towns that are symbols of Italian holidays with a private chauffeur
This operation repeats the experiment attempted successfully in Riccione: “Ryccione VYP Service”, which made over 11,000 journeys last year, carrying 30,000 people. For the first time in the world, two towns, Riccione and Forte dei Marmi, have adopted a revolutionary tactic to define new standards of service to tourists, respect for the environment and road safety. And they have done so with Lancia. A perfect link in an ideal marriage between two towns that are so different but so close: Riccione, young and trendy, which identifies with the Lancia Ypsilon, and Forte dei Marmi, elegant and exclusive, values innate in the Lancia Musa.

Excellence that is Made in Italy
The “Forte dei Marmi Vip Service” is a proposal that combines the excellence of Italian experience in different economic sectors: tourism, the automotive industry and design. Synergies between exclusive elements that are Made in Italy: Forte dei Marmi has always symbolised tourism that is refined, elegant and never banal; the Italian carmaker Lancia has always conveyed elegance and temperament in its genes; Poltrona Frau, with typically Italian design, is innovative and overlooks no detail. This “marriage” between Lancia and Poltrona Frau is particularly important because it is the first time that Poltrona Frau has agreed to give its name to a car. And for this reason, Lancia has chosen an event with great visibility to present an absolutely new version of the Musa. In addition to the extraordinary interiors upholstered in Frau leather, this version is also powered by the new 120 bhp 1.6 engine, which puts it at the top of the Musa range: true excellence that is Made in Italy.

A commitment to the safety of the young
At night, with the collaboration of the managers of the largest nightspots in Forte dei Marmi, the municipal authorities have decided to use the Lancia Musas to take anyone who needs transportation home after a night at a disco, to guarantee safe entertainment. And total respect of the environment: the cars are not only elegant and exclusive, but also extremely eco-compatible, with very low emissions and fuel consumption. The 120 bhp Musa 1.6 adopts the latest exhaust gas treatment technologies, which guarantee lower emissions and reduced fuel consumption. The combination of these solutions ensures that the engine already respects the stringent limits imposed by future Euro5 legislation: an example of the great effort made by Lancia in favour of mobility that respects the environment.

Olivier Francois, Managing Director of Lancia Automobiles, had this to say about the “Forte dei Marmi Vip Service” initiative: “What links Lancia, Riccione and Forte dei Marmi is a common approach to the concept of service. Lancia in the car world, and Riccione and Forte dei Marmi in tourism, are on the cutting edge where service to customers is concerned. The service is customised to the needs of these prestigious seaside resorts in the Summer months, to the benefit not only of holiday-makers, who are the first to be directly affected by the service, but of everyone, including the local residents, who will enjoy a Summer with less traffic, fewer traffic jams and basically less stress. The Lancia Musa Poltrona Frau is a brand new model, a city limousine that combines the elegance typical of Lancia and an exclusive, refined look, and is also extremely environment-friendly thanks to its highly efficient engines. I am convinced that the experience of Forte dei Marmi will enable us to give a concrete example of one meaning of the term ‘sustainable mobility’.”