Is this the way forward for Lancia?

[fay66]

http://www.formtrends.com/lancia-should-be-fcas-fashion-and-technology-leader/?utm_content=buffereb134&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Brian
8227

[mikeC]

That's pretty much exactly what I've been saying for the last twenty years 

[Paul Greenway]

The idea is great in theory, however we have to appreciate that the majority of the car buying public unfortunately are not car enthusiasts, don't care about history and innovation and just require to get from A-B with minimum of fuss with a great warranty & service plan, good resale, modest PCP's & PCH's, reliability, comfort, space, safety & quality and if there's a perceived premium brand badge on the grille then that's a bonus- something traditionally Italian brands fail to deliver, despite being equal or better occasionally.
German engineering, Japanese reliability, Korean warranties in no nonsense cars lead the way. A Guilia/Stelvio or X-type/F-Pace will always trail a 3/X3-series, A4/A5/Q5 or C-Class/GLC. A Guilietta (or Delta) will always trail a Golf/Tiguan/Touran, A/B/GLA-class, A3/Q3, 1/2/X1-Series, Ceed/Sportage, Juke/Qashquai, Aurius/Rav 4 or Octavia no matter how good they are as the modern perception of Italian cars are that the are unreliable, expensive to service & maintain and they have a high depreciation curve, unless you are a die hard fan.
Lancia agreeably have not made a decent enough car since the integrale (and I have owned/driven most of them)- the Thesis was great but it was expensive and suffered heavy depreciation, the engines were inefficient and not particularly powerful even in 3.2 V6 form, the first two Ypsilons had individuality and could possibly have done well in the UK, the Kappa Coupe/SW were interesting, the Delta 3 was another good car but was an acquired taste and not particularly greater than the opposition in any key areas, plus it came to the UK 3 years too late with the wrong badge that didn't appeal to the Lancia fans because of the badge nor the Chyrsler fans because it just wasn't American enough, the rest could be argued as forgettable & lacked the quality expected for a prestige brand and their styling was always second best to comparable Alfa's.
If Lancia do make a return and require to capture past innovative glories, then besides looking a bit different/being quirky (but not too extreme) and offering a breath of fresh air as far as a modern safety concious world requires, the efficiency, quality, finance packages and resale values have to be top of the tree, nothing else would suffice. We have to ask the question could this happen under Fiat-Chrysler SPA?
The article mentions Infiniti, but as a niche brand trying to compete in the same market sector as Audi, BMW, M-B, Range Rover, Jaguar, Lexus & Volvo, they are struggling heavily- all their products get slated by the press and are not particularly efficient, however they do have good support from their parents- Nissan/Renault and also links with Mercedes Benz on some products too- enough to perceviere.
When Fiat initially purchased Lancia in 1969 they developed the Beta range which was a fantastic range of cars with appeal across the board, rave reports and the UK was a particularly strong market until 1980 with the rust scandal. In 1978 Lancia outsold BMW by almost 3:1. The way the scandal was handled by Fiat-Lancia (remember rows and rows of cars waiting at the dockside) was a major factor in the demise of the marque particularly in the UK.
The Fiat of today don't seem to be able to manage all it's brands- Abarth, AR, Ferrari, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati and now Chrysler/Jeep in the competitive market, yet VW seem to manage Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche?, Seat, Skoda & VW with super efficiency giving the buying public exactly what they want with top reliability, quality, performance, economy and resale with their eyes closed, giving each brand it's own niche and all producing great sales figures.
Fiat need to find the right buyer for Lancia, someone who understands the heritage and tradition of this great marque to give both it's followers and new clientel what they need and has the perfect plan/strategy to put it back on it's feet- with Marchionne at the helm of Fiat, that plan will never happen.
With all the above said, the idea is a step in the right direction and hopefully it can be pushed forward & won't fall on deaf ears so that something can be done to save Lancia, because if it doesn't happen soon it maybe lost forever.

[frankxhv773t]

I have thought for some time that FIAT should be the "cooking" product, Alfa concentrate on the overtly sporty, more flashy cars and Lancia provide the premium product emphasising luxury but still with decent amounts of "go". That way there would be three distinct market sectors and the public would understand what is going on.

[mikeC]

I agree with pretty much everything that Paul says ... except he overlooks what Citroen have done / are doing with the DS 'brand'; I really cannot see why Lancia could not be relaunched as a premium brand in the same way. Citroen is the butt of jokes regarding quality and service just as much as Fiat is, but they seem to have overcome that with clever marketing, so anything is possible if there's the will ...

[Paul Greenway]

I agree with pretty much everything that Paul says ... except he overlooks what Citroen have done / are doing with the DS 'brand'; I really cannot see why Lancia could not be relaunched as a premium brand in the same way. Citroen is the butt of jokes regarding quality and service just as much as Fiat is, but they seem to have overcome that with clever marketing, so anything is possible if there's the will ...

I see what you're saying Mike and would love this to happen with Lancia, it's just that Citroen-Peugeot appear to be fully behind the DS Brand with good marketing strategies (particularly in mainland Europe), whereas poor old Lancia seems to be unloved currently by the Fiat- Chrysler CEO apart from the facelifted Ypsilon 3 in it's native Italy and there's no one on the board who really wants to save our marque once this Ypsilon disappears, despite the number of 'Save Lancia!' petitions going on in the background.