SIMid
7th October 2008, 02:51 PM
http://foreman.blogs.topgear.com/2008/10/01/oh-blimey-a-lancia-supercar/
"Fancy a new one of these (Lancia Stratos)? Lancia is intent on building a sports-car concept for the Geneva show in 2009. And the Lancia bosses are serious about turning it into a low-volume production car. Now of course Lancia has form here: the Beta Monte Carlo, or more esoterically the Stratos. But they were an awfully long time go. Is this really credible nowadays?
I use the word ‘credible’ because the boss does. Olivier Francois is the man charged with getting Lancia out of the dumpster of history. He’s actually doing rather well on the continent, selling more cars through canny marketing, even though he hasn’t had any actual new metal until the recent arrival of the new Delta.
The Delta comes to the UK in mid 2009.
And he’s planning an all-new car every six months after that. New Ypsilon (the current one is the oddball holiday rentacar of choice if you’re ever in Italy). New Musa (bizarre small luxo-people carrier, equally bizarrely adored on home turf). A new coupe to rival the Scirocco (he hasn’t yet gotten this one signed off by the top brass at Fiat group).
They’re individual, fairly classy, left-field cars. They’re all, in the boss’s words, ‘credible, feasible and distinctive.’
But they’re not sporty. Which makes the Geneva car look well out of place. ‘It’s a performance car, low volume and high spec. We’re serious about building it.’
He tells me it won’t be limited like the Alfa 8C Competizione, but mentions the tradition of the Beta Montecarlo and Stratos.
None of which answers the question of why. It just seems out of place for a Lancia now that the nameplate’s racing and rallying is no more than ancient history. Of course, it’s only a concept, and as he speaks, Geneva is several months of economic unpredictability away. By 2009 the idea of any such luxury could seem like nothing more than a daydream."
"Fancy a new one of these (Lancia Stratos)? Lancia is intent on building a sports-car concept for the Geneva show in 2009. And the Lancia bosses are serious about turning it into a low-volume production car. Now of course Lancia has form here: the Beta Monte Carlo, or more esoterically the Stratos. But they were an awfully long time go. Is this really credible nowadays?
I use the word ‘credible’ because the boss does. Olivier Francois is the man charged with getting Lancia out of the dumpster of history. He’s actually doing rather well on the continent, selling more cars through canny marketing, even though he hasn’t had any actual new metal until the recent arrival of the new Delta.
The Delta comes to the UK in mid 2009.
And he’s planning an all-new car every six months after that. New Ypsilon (the current one is the oddball holiday rentacar of choice if you’re ever in Italy). New Musa (bizarre small luxo-people carrier, equally bizarrely adored on home turf). A new coupe to rival the Scirocco (he hasn’t yet gotten this one signed off by the top brass at Fiat group).
They’re individual, fairly classy, left-field cars. They’re all, in the boss’s words, ‘credible, feasible and distinctive.’
But they’re not sporty. Which makes the Geneva car look well out of place. ‘It’s a performance car, low volume and high spec. We’re serious about building it.’
He tells me it won’t be limited like the Alfa 8C Competizione, but mentions the tradition of the Beta Montecarlo and Stratos.
None of which answers the question of why. It just seems out of place for a Lancia now that the nameplate’s racing and rallying is no more than ancient history. Of course, it’s only a concept, and as he speaks, Geneva is several months of economic unpredictability away. By 2009 the idea of any such luxury could seem like nothing more than a daydream."