Marchionne is killing Lancia

laxmax613

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
4,071
Location
Tel Aviv, Israel
Car(s)
Merkavim Mars
Autoblog said:
The European financial crisis has claimed another victim. This time it is not a racing program or production facility, but an entire car brand. Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has announced the shuttering of the storied Italian make as part of a "larger strategic correction" to right Fiat's current financial woes. That kind of dashes any plans for a Stratos comeback.
According to German site Automobilwoche, the move is part of a larger effort that would see Fiat spread product offerings over more vehicle segments, including the premium market. Still, Fiat will continue to present the Panda as the "pillar of the brand, and will be rebadged as a Jeep in the near future.

With news that Fiat could post a 700-million-euro loss for 2012, the killing?off of Lancia starts to come into context. According to Marchionne, the company may not break even again until 2015 or 2016. The hope of shuttering the Lancia brand is to further consolidate underpinnings and cut costs by platform sharing and rebadging of Fiat, Jeep, and Chrysler products, hopefully pulling the Italian automaker out of the red.


I'm pretty torn up about this. While I never really appreciated Lancia before the Top Gear special, it really sank in then how sad it had become and how far it had fallen. This is a a really sad day for the car industry, but it might benecessary for the survival of Fiat as a whole.
 
It's not so much what the brand was, it's what they made out of it in the last decades, and it's a slow death for Lancia. It'll be better the Brand dies as a legend than live on as a Badge for Chrysler, which it now is mostly. The Lancia badge just became more irrelevant on European streets the last year's, but so did others too (except Chrysler itself, which wasn't really relevant over here at all)
 
I'd be very upset and sad if the Lancia name disappeared. Personally, I love the current day Delta. It may only be a Fiat Bravo underneath, but my god is that body elegant. Also Lancia always use very high quality materials inside the cabin. Alcantara and fine leather are the order of the day for them.

Don't die...please. :(

 
I saw two Lancias this year.
 
Fiat will continue to present the Panda as the "pillar of the brand, and will be rebadged as a Jeep in the near future.

Wat.
 
I sorta saw this coming when Fiat said they would be basing them on Chryslers but not this soon...
 
Lancia has been dead for a while now. They are just rebranded Fiats and such these days, so you could say I'm glad it's being put away finally. There is no point in keeping a name alive if there aren't actually cars to back it up.
 
The last Lancia I saw was the 300C rebadge I posted in Vehicle Sightings Photos back in spring.
 
I've had fleeting thoughts about getting a Kappa some time in the future.
 
If that's the case, why bother rebadging the Dart as a Fiat like Sergio wants to do? Wait until the SRT-4 comes out, have Lancia prep it for touring cars or rallying, and homologate it. Then name it the Delta Integrale. The current Delta and the Dart are both Fiat C-Platform-based anyway, so why not?

And for those Euros who are foaming at the mouth at the name desecration, now you know how some Americans (not me) felt when Mopar took an Alfa Giulietta, reskinned it, and had the temerity to name it "Dart". That actually turned out quite well.
 
i don't know, the 1993 or so Delta was a pretty weak thing already to turn out. I liked the Dedra, but from then on it was downhill. I do actually really like the Kappa, but the Lybra and the Thesis, unique as it is, are pretty terrible-looking.
 
Strange, how the "European Financial Crisis" - which as an overall crisis doesn't even exist - is made responsible for about almost everything today. Murder of the British family in the south of France? Probably a result of the Euro crisis, too...

Seriously, though: FIAT is still a very sick company. But that has nothing to do with the current financial crisis. It might have accelerated things but in the end a car company or a brand can only go bust or die, when not enough people are buying its products. And I think I don't have to explain here, why this has been the case with Lancia.
 
Strange, how the "European Financial Crisis" - which as an overall crisis doesn't even exist - is made responsible for about almost everything today. Murder of the British family in the south of France? Probably a result of the Euro crisis, too...

Seriously, though: FIAT is still a very sick company. But that has nothing to do with the current financial crisis. It might have accelerated things but in the end a car company or a brand can only go bust or die, when not enough people are buying its products. And I think I don't have to explain here, why this has been the case with Lancia.

Obviously the financial crisis is a problem, but sadly you will only realize about it when your beloved country doesn't have 'anyone' to sell stuff to in Europe (or a 'Der Spiegel' article explains it to you...)
 
Top