Auf Wiedersehen Alfa?

[fay66]

paul same as you I love my lancia's, but can't match your 23 years of ownership.
however, I don't "dote" on Dedra's, as if a car doesn't measure up for me then it will go, even if I regret having to do so as I can't afford to have unreliable vehicles, as the  only Dedra Adviser since 1995 at my own expense, I can assure you that Dedra's are not usually unreliable, and in fact apart for one or 2 recurring problems such as door locks ,and eventually succumbing after best part of 15 years use, to electrical earthing faults, many that are traceable back to corrosion of the battery earth lead beneath the battery tray, so in my experience your 2.0se was the exception rather than the rule, and to be honest the newest one I owned, a 1994 2.0LS, wasn't the most reliable Dedra around, but I believe it's problems were down to previous non Lancia  poor servicing.

As you so rightly pointed out, the main problem was the advertising which was aimed at the wrong market, as apart from performance and "Brio", it was never in the same league as BMW or Audi build quality,  but it was a darn sight more interesting to drive, especially with the Lampridi counter balanced engined extended, a wonderful soundtrack.
The rest of the problem was due to the undeserved reputation that Lancia had aquirred fron the supposed rust problems with Beta, done to death by the press ,and people like Clarkson, who perpetuated the myth and used it to great effect against Lancia for their own ends, no doubt you as a Beta owner, remember his hatchet job when Lancia pulled out of the RHD market.

Brian
8227

[Paul Greenway]

Brian,

I concur with everything you say and wish my Dedra experience had been better, I so wanted it to be, when it was launched in 1989 the first reports were fabulous, even What Car? stated "Lancia is back, the Dedra oozes quality & desirability" in its July edition, however it soon change its mind upon RHD production when comparing the 2.0ie SE (incidently the actual car that I owned) against a 320i SE and Audi 90 in it's June 1990 edition where inevitably the Lancia came last despite being the best value, best equipped, comparable in all other areas too except build quality where it was slated and also previous reputations were brought up along with aftercare too. It is a potential good car trying to get out, an opportunity missed.

It never really stood a chance with the press and the changing hands of ownership, and Lancia marketing did not help either because they could not decide who to market it too was it a Primera competitor or a 190E competitor? Audi/BMW/MB had a prestige market full stop, they did not venture into Sierra territory, they did not need to, perhaps Fiat should have marketed its luxury brand as a 3-series competitor only and kept the Tempra facing the Cavaliers of this world.

This has always been Fiats problem since aquiring Lancia & Alfa, how to market them right, something it has never succeeding in doing, if it doesn't sell Alfa to VW it requires to take a good look at VW, understand and learn how they manage to market their Seat/Skoda/VW/Audi brands- overlapping as required-and all sell well in harmony.

People and especially the media still jump on the bandwagon of unreliability, poor aftersales, rust, residuals when mentioning Italian brands, yet they seem to forget Skoda were the butt of all jokes 20 years ago, Seats used to be Fiats built under licence in Spain, VW started off with Kubelwagens and Beetles as the peoples car (how they rusted), Audi's rusted more than most in the '70's and were nothing more than Cortina & Granada rivals, it was only the success of the quattro and the folllowing branding that saved it. Fiat needs to address this quick.

Paul G.

[Paul Greenway]

Sergio Marchionne stated last week that he was aware of statements made by VAG regarding them wishing to purchase Alfa Romeo in a couple of years time, however he put the rumour to bed and clearly stated that A-R is NOT for sale.

[fay66]

Sergio Marchionne stated last week that he was aware of statements made by VAG regarding them wishing to purchase Alfa Romeo in a couple of years time, however he put the rumour to bed and clearly stated that A-R is NOT for sale.

Until the price is right?

Brian
8227

[fay66]

Alan Cooper  an ex Lancia Member who no doubt many know, asked me to post this for him with his views on Lancia's re Alfa.
Brian
8227

Saw the Alfa debate on the LMC site and thought I must comment on the claim that Lancia made inferior product to Alfa. Well this was not always the case during the post RHD period, and indeed if it is the case why did Lancia recently outsell Alfa in Europe? I well remember the 100th anniversary celebrations and visiting the Mirafiori customer centre. I visited with an open mind but TBH was astonished by how cheap and nasty all the Alfa product looked compared with the Lancias. I would agree that early Dedras were disappointing but on a personal note I bought a Delta HPE turbo new in 1999 not only was it a quantum leap from the Dedra turbo but that car was a far better adaptation of the common Tipo based platform than the 145 had far superior interior quality and would simply eat a 145 for breakfast on a twisty road. I believe that foolishly Fiat chose to promote Alfa over and above Lancia during this period leading to the relative failure of superior models.The Lybra being a further example of car of outstanding quality well beyond the poundland build of contemporary Alfas. In the UK we also have the disadvantage of a poisoned and prejudiced press who see anything Lancia as 100% negative, they report black as white and often forget just how well Lancia still does in a limited number of markets whilst constantly wishing to see it's blood spilt and funeral arranged. Having said all that rather than end a sad death as a badge engineered Chrysler I think I'd much rather that they did arrange the funeral and sooner rather than later.