May 14th, 2004

In Love with Lancia's Italian Blemishes

A pioneer of the automotive industry has difficulty managing its history and heritage

Lancia will turn 100 in 2006, having spent the first half of its life under family ownership, part of its second under Italian financier Carlo Pesenti, and 35 years under Fiat.

As Fiat's financial woes are relieved slightly, what is next for the once great Italian marque?

Our Favorite Lancias of Old

Lancia Aprilia (1937-1949)


Lancia Aurelia (1950)


Lancia Fulvia (1964-1972)


Lancia Stratos (1970; prod. 1974-1978)
combination of the lively V-6 engine with the car's curb weight of only 2,155 lbs. yields exceptional results - style by Bertone

Lancia's first sixty or so years gave the world the first production car with an integrated electrical system;

the first V6, independent front suspension, monocoque construction, overhead camshaft, flexible engine mounts, and aluminum engine block;

the first car (debatably) to recognize the importance of aerodynamics;

the first car to be badged Gran Turismo,

and gave Italy its first front-wheel-drive car

Our Favorite Modern Lancias
luxury & charming,
blemished flair


Lancia Monte Carlo (1975-1982)
 120hp 1995cc mid-engined, Pininfarina-styled coupé. The U.S. got a 1756cc version badged Scorpion, which Motor Trend called "one of the wildest-looking cars to hit our shores in some time."


Lancia Trevi dashboard (early '80s)
Trevi replaced Beta, featuring an eclectic interior and a Roots-type supercharger


Lancia Delta Integrale (1988)
 still one of the most sought-after performance cars ever produced


Lancia Zagato Hyena (1992)
based on the Delta Integrale, offering carbonfiber, aluminum, and conventional steel bodies


Lancia Kappa Coupé (1996)


Lancia Thesis (current)

Lancia luxury, performance, and charmingly blemished flair, today: In the early '80s, the other-wordly organization of the Lancia Trevi's cockpit was positively unique. The Italians had found a way of disguising their traditionally challenging, scattered ergonomics with a style that was entirely unique.

The '96 Kappa Coupé exaggerated Lancia's traditional, long rear overhang to produce a fairly compromised effect. Yet it was different: heavily sculpted with a more tame form that stayed true to the short front and relatively massive overhang of the Lancia GT tradition. Moreover, it remains a favorite of our Editor (who will regularly lament to anyone within hearing range that the car was never available in the U.S).

Lancia's current flagship model, the Thesis, features an intricacy in its front and rear fascias that rivals the best of any manufacturer's detailing efforts in - and above - its class.

The dishomogeneity between fascias and flanks, however, lets the exercise down. Financial constrictions within Fiat are likely to blame


Lancia Nea Concept (2000),
which influenced Lancia's current Ypsilon


Lancia Nea Concept (2000)
Lancia Ypsilon (current)

Lancia luxury, today: the company's little Ypsilon belies its size in offering rather welcome curves for its short wheelbase.

Lancia offers a variety of color and fabric options with the Ypsilon, claiming that traditional Italian amenities should not be alien to this class. Indeed, as with its Augusta of 1932, the Lancia of seventy years later remains convinced that luxury continues to have a place in the small-car market

Blemished Modern Lancias


Lancia Lybra (current)

Lancia blemishes, today: the Lybra is stylistically still more compromised than its larger sibling, Thesis.

The rounder front and rear fascias might appear to lend themselves better to the more rounded flanks apparently dictated by Fiat sheet metal. Here, however, the flanks just seem old, a feeling emphasized by a humdrum roofline which offers nothing new.

Moreover, the equality between the front and rear overhangs are likely dictated by Fiat packaging; this is not traditional Lancia styling

Lancia blemishes, today: Replacing the Zeta (a first-generation product of a PSA-Fiat Auto minivan alliance), the Phedra is a second-generation re-skin of the Citroen C8/ Peugeot 807/ Fiat Ulysse produced by the same, continued, corporate game.

 Zeta sold just 1,764 units in 2001, demonstrating not only European ambivalence toward the full-size minivans that are so popular in the U.S, but also its difficulty in supporting its badge.

 Phedra is somewhat more comfortable in its skin than was Zeta, but its Lancia heritage remains peripheral: mildly edgy surfacing; two door handles which stand side-by-side on each flank (recalling the '50s Aurelia), and a flank line that tapers downward at front and rear

Missed Opportunities


Italdesign Lancia Megagamma Concept (1978)


Sbarro Ionos Concept (1997)
Franco Sbarro's revitalized Lancia Stratos


Lancia Granturismo Concept (2002)




Lancia Fulvia Concept (2003)

The Italdesign Lancia Megagamma Concept of 1978 looks so old, now, but was in fact the first surfacing of the minivan as we know it today: front-wheel-drive and space efficient (albeit minus the sliding doors). All this... five years before Lee Iacocca would face the strobes of reporters' camera flashes in launching the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan that saved his company.

Lancia missed a trick in 1997, when it failed to pick up the Sbarro Ionos Concept. For his latest project, 70-year-old Italian Franco Sbarro had joined two Lancia Kappa five-cylinder engines to create a V10-engined monster with the 'crash helmet' profile of the old Stratos.

The Granturismo Concept of 2002 featured Lancia's upright styling, with relatively shorter front overhangs as compared to the longer rear. The window-line curved upward; the beltline downward, to create a sense of flow and yet recall, on average, Lancia's horizontal waterline.

Finally, it would be a true pity if the Fulvia Concept of 2003 were not built. It has stirred up more feelings for Lancia than have been expressed in years
Flash ® quotes (get Flash)

We received an e-mail recently from an avowed Lancista who pointed out, quite correctly, that a site which purports to focus on history and heritage should have done a piece on Lancia by now.

Certainly, Lancia has been one of the true pioneers of the industry, despite having fallen on troubled times in recent years. Lancia's innovations alone could fill a book; so, too, could its racing heritage and the troubles it has faced.

In the interest of doing our part to support the ongoing recovery effort, however, we present our hypotheses and theories on the past, present, and future of the great Italian marque.

It is all too brief, but we agree with the aforementioned reader that our stance on the industry makes a piece on Lancia virtually mandatory. After all, as we have suggested several times, we strongly believe that looking forward requires an eye on the rearview mirror in order to provide the contemporary automotive market with unique, profitable products.

That said, one wonders how familiar our largely domestic readers might be with a marque that was last seen on these shores in 1982, offering the Zagato targa-topped coupé.

Yet a cursory walk through car shows around the country and a few searches across the 'net show that love for Lancia is still alive in America - and, in the tradition of legendary badges, is disproportionate to the actual number of Lancias sold here.

So we begin.

Lancia dates back to 1906, almost one hundred years ago.

Vincenzo Lancia had been a bookkeeper for a company which was bought out by Fiat (which, ironically, would vie for control of his own, future company 70 years later).

After a year as Fiat head inspector, and several years in Fiat's racing program, 25-year-old Vincenzo set up shop in Turin with associate Claudio Fogolin: Lancia e Cia, Fabbrica Automobili.

At the time, metal (often aluminum but more importantly steel) had barely began to replace wood as the material of choice for building automobiles. This was critical in pushing their design away from the established aesthetic of the horseless carriage.

What defines Lancia, and propels its continued mystique even through troubled times? We submit the following:

  • innovation borne out of a desire for elegant simplicity (bookmark);
     

  • luxury (bookmark),
     

  • and Italian flair in style and performance, with a few requisite, charming blemishes (bookmark).

This is a company for whom the above points have managed to overcome prior tragedy. Indeed, some have suggested that tragedies within Lancia have augmented its mystique over the years. At some point, however, the marque began a downfall from which it is still recovering.

  • What in Lancia's history has led us to expect these characteristics from the marque?
     

  • How successful has the company been at maintaining them?
     

  • Moreover, is adhering to them a viable option in Lancia's recovery?

Our conclusions are presented toward the close of this page: Profitably Preserving Lancia's Mystique (bookmark).

Innovation borne out of a desire for elegant Simplicity

As far back as 1908, Lancia was different. Its first car, the 2543cc, four-cylinder Alpha, was shown at the Turin Motor Show in 1908, featuring a high-revving engine and patented oil lubrication system (along with what carsfromitaly.com describes as an "unusual carburetor").

The Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Eta followed, with the ensuing Zeta featuring its gearbox and differential as one unit on the rear axle for better weight distribution.

In 1913, the Thema debuted as the first production car with an integrated electrical system.

"In 1914," writes Penny Sparke in A Century of Car Design (Octopus, 2002), "the American car manufacturer Dodge created an all-metal car, which was quickly emulated elsewhere."

Lancia would add its own innovative variant to the mix: "across the Atlantic, the Italian maker Lancia created an all-steel car body in 1918."

Four years later, the 1922 Lancia Lambda would be the first production vehicle to, as Paul Velacott wrote for the Australian Lancia Register, August 2002, "incorporate independent front suspension, monocoque construction, an aluminum engine block,... (and) an overhead camshaft." In 1924, the Lambda packed the world's first V6 engine. Few others took note until the configuration was reintroduced in the Aurelia twenty-five years later.

The Artena followed, and the Astura which derived from it would pioneer the use of flexible engine mounts.

Vincenzo Lancia, Sparke goes on to note, launched the unibody Augusta sedan in 1932, and the similarly unitary Aprilia in 1937. The significance of Lancia's contribution to monocoque construction cannot be understated; "the unitary car instigated a revolution in car design," writes Sparke, adding,

"for the first time, a car could really be thought of and conceived from the outset, as a single visual entity."

Aprilia also had all-around independent suspension, and a rather distinctive, narrow-angle 1352cc 47hp V4. It boasted a drag coefficient of 0.47, thanks to work in the Turin Polytechnic wind tunnel.

In 1950, yet another great Lancia was launched: the Aurelia, which boasted the world's first production V6 engine (a 56hp, 1754cc 60-degree unit dubbed B10). In later, 1991cc B20 GT form, the Aurelia became the first car to be called "Gran Turismo."

"Everything about this machine is quick, compact, positive, practical, and ingenious," wrote John Bentley of the Aurelia GT in Auto Speed and Sport.

More power followed the Aurelia over the eight years it remained in production, until - as it approached 90hp - the independent rear suspension was thrown out in favor of a simpler De Dion suspension layout. This layout would continue well into the mid-1960s with the Flaminia.

The 1960 Lancia Flavia was the first Italian production car with front-wheel-drive. Styled in-house under Dr. Antonio Fessia, the Flavia featured split-circuit hydraulic brakes with all-around discs. It was followed by the Fulvia, which replaced the Appia in 1964. By 1967, Kugelfischer fuel injection (of BMW 2002tii fame) would become standard in the Fulvia.

In 1970, thoughts that perhaps all of this might be starting to sound like an Italian Citroën were starting to take form. The French marque itself saw the connection, and attempted co-operation with Lancia. By the 1976 Geneva Motor Show, unfortunately, the project had fallen through and the Gamma presented was a thoroughly Lancia project (Pininfarina style and Fiat mechanicals aside; Fiat had been in control of Lancia for seven years).

Italdesign's 1978 work with Lancia may lay claim to the first minivan design (as we know it), the '78 Lancia Megagamma Concept.

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Luxury

The Dilambda of 1922 was Lancia's first luxury vehicle. The early '50s Aurelia B20 GT was the first car to be labeled, Gran Turismo, in a supreme combination of Italian amenities and vitality,

Large-scale luxury was not Lancia's only focus. The Augusta of the 1930s was the first compact Lancia to attempt to provide luxury. The company continues to take the view even today that luxury has a place in the small-car market. Its little Fiat Panda-based Ypsilon arrived in 2003, offering unlikely yet well-executed curves on a tiny wheelbase, and a variety of color and fabric options.

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Italian Flair in Style and Performance, with a few Requisite, Charming Blemishes.

Call them dimples, perhaps, but they make the Lamborghini Murciélago too geometric to be truly Italian (as Automobile's Robert Cumberford once notes), and yet made its Diablo predecessor so appealing.

In 1928, three Lancias entered the Mille Miglia race, one of which finished third.

Lancia's Aurelia is recognized as one of the great collector cars, and was designed in house by Gianni Lancia and Vittorio Jano (formerly of Alfa Romeo). 1951 saw the Aurelia competing in motorsport, achieving "many successes, especially at the expense of Alfa Romeo," notes carsfromitaly.com. That year, Lancia averaged 82.14mph in the Le Mans race, winning its class.

In 1953, Fangio (averaging 105,73mph), Taruffi, and Castelloti pulled off a 1, 2, and 3 with Lancia's new 3-liter V6 in the Carrera Panamericana. A 2.5-liter Lancia won its class at Le Mans, and the 1953 Liege-Rome-Liege rally.

In 1954, Lancia won Le Mans again.

Look no further than the Aprilia and the Aurelia to see Lancia's strong relationship to Italy's carrozzerie. Lancia built 7,554 Aprilia and 778 Aurelia chassis for use by Allemano, Bertone, Boeschi, Castagna, Ghia, Pininfarina, Stabilimenti Farina, Touring, Vignale, Viotti, and Zagato (source: carsfromitaly.com).

When ownership of Lancia transferred to Carlo Pesenti, Vittorio Jano was replaced by Dr. Antonio Fessia (of Fiat Topolino fame) and Pininfarina began styling Lancia's cars.

Even under Fiat ownership, Lancia has been good for the carrozzerie. Bertone designed the famous 1970 Lancia Stratos. By 1978, the Stratos - which began production in 1974 yet had already been rallying for two years in prototype form - had won fourteen World Rally Championship events and 68 other international races (source: Standard Catalog of Imported Cars, 1946-2002, Mike Covello, Krause, 2002).

Unfortunately, Bertone's fate has been somewhat tied to Fiat's; since the great Nuccio Bertone died, the company has had an ever more difficult time. Cash-strapped Fiat recently elected not to replace the Bertone-built Punto convertible for the latest Punto generation.

In October 1987, one of the greatest performance machines ever created was launched: the Giugiaro-designed Lancia Delta Integrale. The driving position was terrible, but the car was pure magic. CAR immediately put it on its prestigious '10 Best' list in 1988. The Delta Integrale went on to win five successive Rally World Championships.

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Profitably Preserving Lancia's Mystique

As an enthusiast organization, we cannot but assert that the heading of this conclusion is a little redundant: profit and 'preserving Lancia's mystique' are one and the same goal.

Difficulty Peppered Commercial & Racing Success

Lancia's contemporary success has been commercial when its cars have been at their most innovative, and racing-based when commercial operations have permitted it. The company is so steeped in innovation that its achievement is inextricable from its contribution to the industry.

Lambda was Lancia's first real success, with a nine-year production close to 13,000. Aprilia marked its second, moving 14,704 cars from 1939 to 1949. Aurelia was a third, with 12,786 sedans produced in five years, along with 3,871 coupés and 761 convertibles through 1958. Fulvia was its greatest modern success story, with over 359,000 built from 1963-1976 (source: Standard Catalog of Imported Cars, 1946-2002, Mike Covello, Krause, 2002).

Between 1988 and 1989, the Lancia Delta Integrale took 14 world championship wins - famously trouncing Audi's Quattro. Driver Miki Biasion won two world drivers' titles, and would bring home the constructors championship for Lancia.

Between 1970 and 1992, Lancia won eleven World Rally Championship titles - more than any other manufacturer (even today). Conspiracy theorists continue to suggest that Fiat's take-over of Alfa Romeo in 1987 relegated Lancia to second-best as a sporting brand. Indeed, there may well be some truth to this in the current organization of Fiat, as we shall see.

Conspiracy or not, such difficulty is not alien to Lancia. Despite early commercial successes, and later superlative performances in racing, Lancia's mystique has been ever-punctuated - and perhaps amplified - by first tragedy and then, in recent years, difficulty.

The company's first car in 1907 was destroyed by fire. Vincenzo Lancia, its founder, never saw the superlative Aprilia go into production; the great man died in February 1937 of a heart attack. His wife and son, Gianni, sold their holdings to Italian financier Carlo Pesenti in 1955.

Paradoxically, despite Aurelia's power increases, Lancia lost money at such an alarming rate that it was forced to pull its racing challenger out of motorsport in 1955.

Lancia's pull-out from the UK market in 1993 was such a tragic paradox because, up until the mid-1950s, the vast majority of Lancias had been right-hand-drive.

Lancia missed a trick in 1997, when it failed to pick up the Sbarro Ionos Concept. For his latest project, 70-year-old Italian Franco Sbarro had joined two Lancia Kappa five-cylinder engines to make what Chris Rees refers to as "an upturned V10 layout" within a "crash helmet" window profile (Concept Cars, Chris Rees, Barnes & Noble, 2000).

The modern Lancia's worst years -
2001 and 2002

Lancia sales declined 13.7% in Western Europe during 2001. By the Spring of 2002, there were only two Lancia models on sale: the little Y, which was aging at a particularly rapid rate, and the Lybra sedan and station wagon. Phedra and Thesis had been delayed, and the company was looking ever more fragile. 2002 went on to be Fiat Auto's worst year since 1993, with fewer than 2 million units sold overall.

The brand's poorest seller in 2001? The Zeta full-size minivan, at 1,764 units. Zeta is a rebadged version of the corporate decision between PSA-Fiat Auto to produce the Zeta alongside Citroën's Evasion/ Synergie, Peugeot's 806, and Fiat's Ulysse at a joint-plant in France. These vans are the closest thing to corporate consolidation that has been seen in Europe, and are thoroughly reminiscent of the General Motors decision under Ron Zarella to produce a misguided Oldsmobile (Silhouette) version of the unremarkable GM minivan set (article: 'Why Oldsmobile did not have to die').

The Silhouette soldiered on for a second generation; Zeta, too, has been transformed into the second-generation Phedra.

Phedra is somewhat more comfortable in its skin than was Zeta, but its Lancia heritage remains peripheral: mildly edgy surfacing; two door handles which stand side-by-side on each flank (recalling the '50s Aurelia), and a flank line that tapers downward at front and rear.

Regardless, there is no apparent need for this model, nor does it do anything for the Lancia brand. Like Jaguar's X-Type and Mercedes-Benz's Sport Coupé, Phedra was born out of a desire to fill a market niche with a profitable brand without concern for the long-term ramifications. There is a great difference between charmingly blemished, and being expediently so; vehicles such as Phedra and even the Lybra sedan and wagon lean too excessively toward the latter end of the spectrum to be considered true Lancias, as their expediency creates merely peripheral identity.

How has Lancia been doing recently?

The brand remains viable; for March 2004, Lancia was up a whole 222% in Greece - of all places - over March 2003, largely on the strength of the new Ypsilon.

How has Lancia been doing recently? Better - Fiat Auto halved its operating loss through the first quarter of 2004 (to £106 million) compared to the same period in 2003, the Birmingham Post and Mail reported this past Wednesday.

2003 itself was a much better year for Fiat Auto. Group net loss narrowed in 2003 to 1.9 billion euros ($2.3 billion), of which Fiat Auto's portion was 979 million euros, compared with a loss of 4.3 billion euros in 2002. In January 2004, Fiat Auto's share of the Italian market was up to 30.9%, and the group fully expects to break even at the end of this year.

Indeed, Lancia's Ypsilon (and Fiat's brilliant new Panda, which earned the European Car of the Year 2004 award) pulled worldwide Fiat Auto sales up 11.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2004.

This is remarkable performance considering the difficulties Lancia found itself in just three years ago. As the Fiat Group, whose last carmaking profit was in 1997, recovers, attention will inevitably turn to what should be done with Lancia.

The modern Lancia under Fiat

Both Lancisti we have talked to, and ourselves here at AutomoBear, would love to see Alfa Romeo-based Lancias.

It will not happen - at least, not any time soon.

Indeed, any Lancisti thoughts that the company might share parts with Alfa Romeo were effectively killed in January of 2002 when then-Fiat CEO Giancarlo Boschetti split Fiat Auto up into five categories: Fiat/Lancia/Light Commercial Vehicles, Alfa Romeo, International Developments, Consumer Services, and Aftersales.

Alfa Romeo, evidently, is in a category of its own for the foreseeable future.

Do Fiat ownership and Fiat underpinnings necessarily mean that Lancia cannot flourish? Of course not; to suggest otherwise would be a classic case of the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy.

Fiat began making gestures toward Lancia enthusiasts in 1972, three years after taking ownership of the company. Greek names made an appearance in the Lancia range for the first time since 1929 when the new front-wheel-drive Beta fastback sedan debuted at the '72 Turin Motor Show. Beta was cautiously received, and not perfect, but its Fiat underpinnings were only partly responsible.

The 1988 Delta Integrale that is still so fondly remembered and prized was based on the Delta (European Car of the Year, 1984), which arose from a humble Fiat Ritmo.

Moreover, Lancia's latest Fulvia Concept was based on the Fiat Barchetta, yet managed to look convincingly like a refreshed version of the great originals of the '60s and '70s.

With its older models increasingly being pushed out, Fiat is able to sell its cars closer to MSRP - which can only be positive for Lancia's inherent premium positioning. Lancia's Ypsilon has been largely responsible for not only Fiat Auto's sales increase, but for a rise in average unit price after a torrid 1.5% drop from October through February (as recently reported by the Italian automotive research organization Promotor).

How should Lancia be nurtured to maintain its promise of profitability?

In 1998, Mike Robinson - who has claimed to have wanted to design Lancias since he was 16 - was made head designer for the manufacturer. Robinson designed the brilliant Dialogos Concept (which became the current Thesis flagship), demonstrating an avid understanding of Lancia design.

Fiat underpinnings or not, it is absolutely critical that Lancia be given as free reign with its designs as possible.

One year and a half ago, then-Fiat CEO Giancarlo Boschetti told Automotive News, November 18th, 2002, "For every $100 we are going to invest in Fiat, we will invest $25 in Lancia and in return will get a truly Lancia product.

"I'm very happy because this means we are getting very good products for Lancia in an extremely cost-effective way."

There is, we submit, room within that 25% to ensure that each Lancia adheres to the following visual criteria:

  • longer front overhangs than Lancia's promise of performance might dictate (see even Franco Sbarro's sporty 1997 Stratos Concept);
     

  • longer rear overhangs with respect to the front (critical to Lancia's elegant body lines);
     

  • a waterline parallel to the ground (if 'averaged,' as in the case of the 2002 Granturismo Concept),
     

  • and upright frontal fascias, with the architectural cues their Baroque stance implies (see Thesis).

As we noted in Bear in Review 2003/4, design has become a key differentiator - and, as demonstrated by the Dialogos Concept, Lancia has the in-house ability (and a working history with the carrozzerie) to play this game as well as anyone else.

Lancia UK Club President Paul Baker recently suggested that a Mercedes executive had told him that the "Germans were genuinely amazed by the continuing poor marketing of the Thesis, which they might otherwise take seriously as a rival."

The Fulvia of 1964 was the last fully Lancia-designed Lancia. Coupes and sedans were produced. Last year, the company showed a Fulvia Concept at Geneva, generating more press than has been granted to it in years. Based on the Fiat Barchetta, it absolutely must be built.

For more substantive, technological innovation worthy of Lancia's innovation, we're encouraged by Fiat's discovery of multiplexing - and permit us, dear reader, to now launch into a more outlandish discussion...

The Lancia Equivalent of the "Silly Season"

The annual rumors surrounding Formula One teams and their drivers are generally referred to as part and parcel of the "silly season." Lancia has not played in Formula One since 1955, when it pulled out after the death of driver Alberto Ascari (and donated its remaining F1 D50s to Ferrari); yet our own F1-inspired "silly season" follows.

"Blemishes" imply a certain quirkiness - and Lancia's quirkiest contemporaries are Citroën, Maserati, and Saab. All four are European manufacturers that have, in modern times, had difficulty achieving the heady heights their heritage has set for them.

"The French firm Citroën launched its all-steel saloon in 1928," notes Sparke - ten years later than Lancia! Citroën would go on to innovate for decades. Both Lancia and Citroën were great pioneers whose creativity has been progressively more stunted over the past ten years and who are both at various stages of recovery. Citroën has even played a dangerous value game, particularly in the UK market, over the past decade.

Citroën tied-up with Maserati to produce the SM, and the Citroën-engined Quattroporte II. Citroën also tied-up (if to follow their agreement with an abrupt dismissal) with Lancia in 1970, as noted earlier, to engage in producing the Gamma.

Could Fiat ownership of Maserati be enough to pull a few strings and produce a Stratos based on the current Maserati Coupé? Stranger things have happened; the Lancia Stratos borrowed its drivetrain from the Ferrari Dino 246 GT (as did the Fiat Dino), and the late, great Thema 8.32V received a Ferrari engine!

Could something great come out of the Lancia Phedra, with Citroën's ever-returning technological prowess being part and parcel of the PSA-Fiat alliance that has built it?

And what of Saab? "Fiat Auto of Italy and Saab-Scania of Sweden are close to announcing a merger of their Lancia and Saab automotive divisions. A Lancia-Saab grouping could make Fiat Auto the largest luxury carmaker in the world by unit volume," Automotive News reported on November 13th, 1989!

Of course, this never happened.

Yet GM now owns Saab, as well as 20% of Fiat Auto. Both Saab and Lancia are front-wheel-drive pioneers (along with, most notably, Renault); both have famously used turbos, and Saab's wind-swept styling is sufficiently distinct from Lancia's more upright stance. Lancia's Thema was based on a platform produced in co-operation with not only Fiat, but PSA and Saab. Lancia's Delta was once even rebadged (albeit misguidedly) as the obscure Saab 600 in Sweden. Could a tie-up happen, here?

Lancia must return to the UK

In October 1969, control of Lancia was passed on to Fiat, who set about modernizing the range. The stop-gap 2000, a re-named and bored-and-stroked Flavia, would be replaced by a new line of sedans, coupes, and HPE (high performance estate) models named Beta. Full of initial promise, Beta would be the most memorable (if exaggeratedly so) cause of Lancia's pull-out from the British market in 1993.

The reason? Rust problems that condemned cars as new as a few months. The company never recovered from that fiasco, despite fascination across Europe with its phenomenal Delta Integrale. That Lancia shared a British importer with Suzuki did not help.

Despite Lancia's early predilection for right-hand-drive, it was all over for the marque in Britain. However, the influence of the British automotive press being what it is, Lancia's return to the Isles should be a top priority.

We have reserved the inevitable question of many of our readers for last: could Lancia return to the U.S?

As far as we can tell, Lancia has never moved more than 7% of its annual production in the U.S. market - and that was back in 1959, imported by Hoffman Motors and J.S. Inskip. By raw numbers, Lancia sold the greatest number of cars Stateside in 1977 (5,500), less than a tenth of Fiat sales that year.

Things could have been different. It is a little known fact that, in 1927, plans were actually made to produce Lancias in the U.S. Mike Covello writes for the Standard Catalog of Imported Cars, 1946-2002 (Krause, 2002) that, "Lancia Motors of America was formed, and displayed prototypes at the New York Importers Car Show.

"The program collapsed, however, proving to be more of a stock-manipulation scheme than an honest stab at American production." As for the prototypes? They became the 1929-1935 Dilambda.

In its current state, Fiat Auto is in the process of rebuilding. Alfa Romeo, its strongest brand financially, has delayed its U.S. return indefinitely; it is unlikely that Lancia will see America for the next decade, at least.

That said, we look forward to a revitalized Fiat finding the wherewithal to revitalize Lancia. The great brand has contributed elegance and innovation to an industry which would be a less colorful - and perhaps quite different - place without it. Here's to the next 100 years!