New Flavia

[Niels Jonassen]

The question is: What is a Lancia? - and for that matter: What is a Chrysler? In the case of Lancia you'll find at least three different schools. First those who are only interested in the early Lancias up to and possibly including the Fulvia. Next come the Beta boys and those who care for the Delta Integrales. Finally there are the Thema, Lybra, Thesis, Ypsilon segment. To the first group Lancia is an expensive vehicle for the few and wealthy. To the next Lancia is a sporting vehicle, and the last group see it as a middle class car slightly more ambitious than the run of the mill cars. It is not easy to target those three groups in one go, so possibly Fiat is just trying to find a fourth group to sell cars to. Those who may have heard that Lancia is something special - or used to be - and who are tired of being seen in a BMW or an Audi; that is getting a bit boring and ordinary.

[HF_Dave]

Whatever about a Chrysler badged as a Lancia, the delta was and is still a fiat engineered Lancia. I woulden't mind driving a re-badged Chrysler Delta as I Drive Fiat engineered Lancias. Most of my Lancia Collection is made up of Fiat group cars

[toby2449]

Lots of forums are debating the whole Lancia/Chrysler merger. Lots of Lancia fans aren't happy folk! however Lancia last year sold 99k cars, lancia need new products & they need them fast, Ypsilon is old & Delta is a sales flop.

Ok new Ypsilon is a pure Lancia product, but if the Chrysler tie-up wasn't in place then there'd be nothing else new for Lancia. So in Geneva we'll see new Thema, Phedra, Flavia & Ypsilon, therefore Lancia stands a chance of actually growing. Its not an ideal merger, far from it, but Lancia need cars to sell, they need to grow, & need to show FGA that any future investment on new products should come their way!

As i've said here before, when Chrysler launch Delta in Ireland I'll be going for a test drive & maybe buy one, changing the badges ofcourse!

[fensaddler]

Lots of forums are debating the whole Lancia/Chrysler merger. Lots of Lancia fans aren't happy folk! however Lancia last year sold 99k cars, lancia need new products & they need them fast, Ypsilon is old & Delta is a sales flop.

Ok new Ypsilon is a pure Lancia product, but if the Chrysler tie-up wasn't in place then there'd be nothing else new for Lancia. So in Geneva we'll see new Thema, Phedra, Flavia & Ypsilon, therefore Lancia stands a chance of actually growing. Its not an ideal merger, far from it, but Lancia need cars to sell, they need to grow, & need to show FGA that any future investment on new products should come their way!

As i've said here before, when Chrysler launch Delta in Ireland I'll be going for a test drive & maybe buy one, changing the badges ofcourse!

I'm with you.  I'll judge the cars on their merits as cars, first and foremost.  In these days of platform sharing and joint ventures, marques are much less 'unique', and its very difficult, in all honesty, to define a marque beyond brand definitions.  Not perhaps what everyone wants, but you're right, Lancia needs products to survive, and the larger end of the Chrysler range is the better stuff - note that its the smaller stuff, Delta and below, that Lancia is using Italian engineered platforms for - this replaces poor standard Chrysler stuff such as the Sebring.  In truth, FGA (Fiat, Alfa or Lancia) hasn't done well in market terms with larger platforms anyway (however much you love the Thesis, it has stiffed in sales terms), so it probably makes sense to use platforms from a manufacturer that has had more success in the larger car and full size MPV segments.  Romanticism is fine for the old cars, but right now what is needed is hard commercial realism.

[Paul Greenway]

Its all very embarrassing, at least "Fiat" Lancia's only shared the platforms (Zeta/Phedra excepted) with their Alfa and Fiat counterparts, surely this collaboration cannot work for either company, however like others I am prepared to wait and see what actually develops prior to any condemnation, you never know we may be surprised.

Let's remember manufacturers these days just want to sell cars, there is no passion, heart, soul or heritage any more unless you are in the supercar class and reporters/testers only praise practical, efficient and green cars with a few extra points if they go around corners too-its what 90% of the car buying public believe they want, thankfully the new Stratos is something to shout about, lets hope it does get a production run and my numbers come up trumps!

[j886atv]

Its all very embarrassing, at least "Fiat" Lancia's only shared the platforms (Zeta/Phedra excepted) with their Alfa and Fiat counterparts, surely this collaboration cannot work for either company,

May I point out you've missed the Thema - it could be argued it shared with Saab too.
Alfa's have been doing this for a while - the v6 engine currently being used is a GM derived unit - so FGA are collaborating all over the place

[Paul Greenway]

I thought only the doors were shared between the Thema & 9000. All four type 4 cars although a collaboration were very different at launch, the Alfa being the most striking although I do not think it has aged as well, the Croma and 9000 both being hatches, although Saab did release a 4-dr 9000 later in its products run. Perhaps I should have mentioned the Delta/Saab 600, anyway back then both Lancia and Saab had masses of credibility.

[Thotos]

.... In the case of Lancia you'll find at least three different schools. First those who are only interested in the early Lancias up to and possibly including the Fulvia. Next come the Beta boys and those who care for the Delta Integrales. Finally there are the Thema, Lybra, Thesis, Ypsilon segment.

You forgot about the Gamma?  I think you'll find there's a few of us who think the Gamma was one of the great Lancias and the last "true" Lancia! 

[thecolonel]

You tell them Theo.

[St Volumex]

I was driving home from the morning school run yesterday (in my Thema, naturally), and ended up behind a Chrysler 300C at a traffic light, and I thought, well at least they've built a large, V8, rear-wheel drive car which is something Lancia hasn't done in a very LONG while. 

I'm with Chris on this one - let's wait and see...

Or perhaps instead, let's have jolly wake, and cheer when the Lancia name is dead forever.  Just imagine what that would do for the value of all our Lancias. 

[toby2449]

good point ya bring up there, big Lancia's are now going to be RWD!!! Imagine the fun to be had in one!!!!

[St Volumex]

Toby, you're right.  I think that despite all the negativity, Chrysler might just be good fit with Lancia.

I mean, Daimler Benz thought they were good enough to merge with at one time, and even paid a premium for the privelege...

Just imagine what Audi could do to Lancia - like what they've done to Lamborghini! 

Love them or loathe them, Chrysler were a very good name once, and not so long ago wowed Detroit with some of their out-of-the-box thinking.  Sounds a lot like Lancia to me.

Here's hoping it's all good news in the future.

[neil-yaj396]

Don't forget as well that Lancia have been pronounced dead several times;  when Vincenzo died, when they stopped making sliding pillar suspension, when the Lancia family sold out to Pesenti (and he via Fessia introduced FWD cars), when Fiat took over, when Lancia withdrew from RHD. I'm sure we could think of some more. Unlike many famous British manufacturers the name Lancia still appears on new cars!

[lee69]

It looks like the "new" Flavia is dead, at least in saloon form anyway. The Convertible is going to make it over to Europe by all accounts.

There's more info on today's Italiaspeed pages.

According to the article it's too costly to get a diesel engine to fit and would cost $15-20 million to re-engineer the Chrysler 200's headlights for the EU regulations!

[peterbaker]

That's what they told me at the geneva show