Why Lancia Deserves to be Saved

[Zuffenhausen Weiss]

Unfortunately the 'Corporate Business' world cares nothing for history.
Lancia produced and pioneered innovative and outstanding cars as mentioned above, I owned a B20 Aurelia years ago and I would happily own one again.
If FIAT are going to dump Lancia then I'd be surprised if another business would take the name on, as they are sadly just another econobox builder today and the market is flooded with them.

Unfortunately, like sports and music fans, some brands attracts the most passionate of fanbases around, some enough to earn themselves a nickname. One tried to make an idiot move that wasn't just enough to attract not just the ire of their fanbase, it was enough to attract the attention of the PotUS

If only Lancia fans were as passionate as the Ferrari Tifosis and the HOGs

 

[Jonny Austin]

You don't know what you're talking about. Betas had rust problems, but Beta was made years before Delta Integrale. Modern Lancias are not unreliable nor rusty. I had a Lybra for 9 years, always kept outside (in alpine winters) and sold at 230000km. Not any noise from the interiors, no mechanical problem, good comfort. It's not a sportscar and some details could have been made better, but still really good value and really affordable to keep.

You had a good experience with a Lybra.That is because underneath it is a Fiat/Alfa Romeo with Lancia styling.

 

[mesa]

Didn't they cheat a lot back in the day?

They called TOYOTA.

 

[Eric Rowland]

beautiful car....couldn't beat the Porsches....

 

[Davide Nativo]

beautiful car....couldn't beat the Porsches....

actually it did in a few occasions if I don't remember it wrong

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Oh yeah it definitely won - just never at Le Mans.

 

[ivanalesi]

FIAT are so dumb. Lancia isn't their problem, it's the image of FIAT. It's great that they are trying to place Alfa Romeo against BMW, but they had to retire the FIAT brand which has quite a bad image and put effort into making new quality Lancia models. Right now, w/o the FIAT 500, this brand is dead! They should have kept the 500, scrap the other models and invest in quality affordable Lancia models. Go back into the WRC to compete against Toyota like in the good old days and re-establish the brand. It's the only brand to have won both the WRC and F1! It also almost won at Le Mans against an armada of Porsches...

 

[ivanalesi]

actually it did in a few occasions if I don't remember it wrong

It was on pole at Le Mans, I've forgotten the story, but they were quite unlucky to lose the race. At one point they were leading with many laps over Porsche...

 

[Richard Dastardly]

There wasn't actually any Lancia in the LC2 - it was a Ferrari engine ( originally from a 308 ) in a Dallara chassis.There was a Group 6 prototype with a Lancia engine but a 4cyl turbo wasn't ever going to go places in Group C...

 

[ivanalesi]

Yeah, but the same can be said about Audi... Dallara was building their chassis & aero.
Dallara started as Carlo Abarth employee, hence the link, Abarth was smth like HWA now with Merc in DTM/FE/GTs. That's normal for manufacturers, very few do everything in-house w/o any outside support.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Most manufacturer teams build the engine at least, historically ( in sportscars, I'm ignoring the others ). Racing teams are rarely in-house, that's been normal for many years.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Looks like great coffee table books
https://www.amazon.com/Lancia-037-development-history-champion-ebook/dp/B00LNFOWG4
https://www.amazon.com/Lancia-Stratos-Profile-Graham-Robson/dp/085429340X

Very pretty and could be a lot of fun!

For now all I have are a couple Lancia 1/43 HPI diecast models.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I find Lancia Rally cars very interesting, purpose built Rally cars with Ferrari drive trains. But I don't think that means the current company should be saved. Two completely different things. The current company is just a badge.

 

[Pippo10]

When was the last time Lancia made a decent car?Delta Integrale in 1990?
Other than the Integrale lets face it Lancia made terrible cars that were unreliable & rusted through in no time.

The Stratos,037,Delta S4,Integrale & Group 6 & Gr C cars were great but they were Fiat projects with Lancia branding.
Lancia should go the same way as Pontiac or Rover.The great race cars will never be forgotten.

A completely uneducated post. Lancia made terrible cars that rust? so you just condensed a small negative window intp their long history and overlooked the fact that car manufacturers use to poop their pants at the prospect of what Lancia were gonna unveil at each motor show. They were haemorrhaging money because of how they use to over engineer their cars. Saying their good cars just had Lancia's badge on is ridiculous.

When even Brabham can come back after almost 30 years, Lancia will be able as well.

It's in the end just branding. And although I get happy from seeing the Alfa-Romeo logo on my daily driver, I know it's mostly Fiat-Chrysler underneath with maybe a few % of Alfa-Romeo added, mostly styling and maybe a bit sportier suspension.

The platform was made for the giulia, to be possibily shared with Maserati and Chrysler. Its all Alfa Romeo. I'm guessing the Bugatti Chiron is just a VW with a Bugatti badge.

 

[Koen Verlinde]

A completely uneducated post. Lancia made terrible cars that rust? so you just condensed a small negative window intp their long history and overlooked the fact that car manufacturers use to poop their pants at the prospect of what Lancia were gonna unveil at each motor show. They were haemorrhaging money because of how they use to over engineer their cars. Saying their good cars just had Lancia's badge on is ridiculous.

The platform was made for the giulia, to be possibily shared with Maserati and Chrysler. Its all Alfa Romeo. I'm guessing the Bugatti Chiron is just a VW with a Bugatti badge.

I drive a 159, not a Giuilia (yet). I'm stilling anticipating people stop buying SUV crap like the Stelvio and buy something nice instead like the Giulia SW.

 

[Jonny Austin]

A completely uneducated post. Lancia made terrible cars that rust? so you just condensed a small negative window intp their long history and overlooked the fact that car manufacturers use to poop their pants at the prospect of what Lancia were gonna unveil at each motor show. They were haemorrhaging money because of how they use to over engineer their cars. Saying their good cars just had Lancia's badge on is ridiculous..

Lancia made some superb race & rally cars that won pretty much everything.The reason they do not exist is not just a "negative window" or because their cars were "over engineered".Their street cars since the Delta have sucked.You would have to be a Lancia fanboy not to recognise that.