Rumours, rumours...

[Shant Fabricatorian]

Some interesting rumours circulating around Lancia at the moment.

Rumour 1 is the following:
http://www.autoindustry.co.uk/news/industry_news/news-57i5f9ebf5

Meanwhile, in what would appear to be a blatant contradiction of the above, Rumour 2 is the following article from Italian media outlet APCOM:

FIAT/A FINE 2006 ARRIVERA' LA NUOVA EDIZIONE DELLA LANCIA DELTA
18/01/2005 - 18:10
Nel piano prodotti nuovamente prevista vettura di segmento C

Torino, 18 gen. (Apcom) - Ci sarà una nuova vettura Lancia di segmento C. E' quanto emerge dalle slides presentate sabato scorso dall'ad del Lingotto, Sergio Marchionne, durante un seminario della Am Bank che si è svolto sabato scorso in Svizzera. Il modello, appartenente alla categoria delle vetture medie (del genere dell'attuale Alfa 156 e della sua prossima erede, l'Alfa 157), secondo quanto risulta ad Apcom, debutterà alla fine del 2006.

Il nuovo modello potrebbe chiamarsi Delta, proprio come la storica vettura degli anni '80 e '90 che fu capace di vincere anche numerosi titoli nel campionato mondiale rally e che venne disegnata da Giorgetto Giugiaro. Allo stesso stilista torinese sarebbe stato affidato il compito di disegnare anche la nuova versione.Inizialmente previsto nel piano prodotti 2004-07, il modello, sembrava fosse stato 'cancellato' ma è ricomparso, per la gioia dei 'Lancisti' e non solo, nei dossier sulle strategie future delle gamma prodotti del gruppo Fiat.

copyright @ 2005 APCOM

It appears roughly translated below:

FIAT/A NEW LANCIA DELTA WILL ARRIVE AT THE END OF 2006 18/01/2005 - 18:10

The plan covers a new Lancia car for the C-segment, and was presented by Sergio Marchionne during a seminar at the Am Bank in Switzerland on Saturday. The model, pertaining to the medium-sized category, will make its debut at the end of 2006.

The new model could be called Delta, just like the historical car of the '80s and '90s which was able to gain numurous World Rally Championship titles, and designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The same Turinese designer has been given the task to style the new version.

Initially previewed in a plan presented in July 2004, the model seemed to be cancelled. But for Lancia enthusiasts and the future of the Fiat Group, the project has been revived.


Take your pick. FWIW I think the new Delta rumours have slightly more credibility - after all Lancia was the only marque to increase its sales by any significant amount last year, and then there's the small problem of finding a buyer...

[SubGothius]

Perhaps both are true? If indeed FIAT is trying sell off Lancia (and Iveco), they'd want to present it favorably as a "live" brand, not let it stagnate with hold-over models. Kinda reminds me of my apt. complex; when I first moved in here, the place was well-maintained and spotless, then sold off within a couple-few months afterward, at which time upkeep suddenly became far less meticulous -- apparently the place was only being kept up so well to be presented for sale. I hope Lancia's new owners would maintain their new purchase better than my complex's new owners have!

BTW, I have to wonder if there's any possibility of Lancia (and Iveco with it) being spun off as a freestanding entity, or at least bought up by some industrial concern looking to get into the car (and commercial vehicle) markets? We can dream that such a buyer would be Italian (or at least European) and strong on robust in-house engineering. If so, that could see Lancia return to its roots, as an independent manufacturer of well-engineered passenger cars and commercial trucks/lorrys! :D Under such new ownership, the nuovo Fulvia could have a chance for production after all... :twisted:

[Shant Fabricatorian]

Mmm, nice theory, but everyone knows that Lancia is a pretty stagnant brand anyway and a development time of two years basically means that nothing is set in stone on the project yet.

Looking at the amount Fiat allegedly hopes to raise, I definitely can’t see it being to anything other than a fellow big industrial group already involved in carmaking. Carmaking is phenomenally expensive these days and there are already way too many cars chasing too few buyers across the globe. People who have that sort of money are usually also the type of people who are smart enough to know when a project is worth backing. I mean, how many high-end car projects can you name that have started with high hopes and fizzled out? I can name at least ten off the top of my head...

Personally speaking I just don’t like the prospects of a sale because the Fiat group, for all their faults and mismanagement, still produce more cars that I’d like to own than any other. When the Italians do it right, IMHO, nothing gets close. They haven’t done too much which is right recently, but the point is they have the capability to.

I mean, consider the likely buyers. GM is 100% definitely out, Ford already has Volvo (which is essentially not dissimilar, at least in the eyes of Ford beancounters), BMW already has the perfect market positioning and blocks any upmarket ambitions of Lancia, DaimlerChrysler ditto, Volkswagen-Audi too. Of the Euro marques, that leaves the French makers, but I just can’t see why either PSA or Renault would be interested. It would surely have to be a Far Eastern manufacturer. Hyundai, Toyota or Honda might be a possibility, or even SAIC (China Brilliance), but that’s about it. Honda could be an interesting tie-up but excuse me for not getting too excited about the other possibilities.

The other big problem is that all Lancias are currently built in Fiat factories, based on Fiat platforms, use Fiat engines (apart from the Phedra of course but that’s just a glorified Pug). Quite how you go about disentangling that is hard to determine. I suppose it might work if Fiat agreed to continue building the cars until a new model range could be brought on-stream but the fact of the matter is that Fiat has gross overcapacity at the moment – currently its factories are operating at something like 65% of capacity – and getting rid of the Lancia marque doesn’t seem like a particularly smart way to sort this problem as Lancia has no exclusive plants of its own. Especially as it increased its sales 14% year-on-year in 2004.

P.S. The new Fulvia might not be quite dead yet. The possibility is small, but apparently still there, for a resurrection on the forthcoming 199 (new Punto) platform.

[SubGothius]

Hm, Renault could be interesting, as the only major contender without a full complement of brands in every segment (Lancia's segment in particular) already. Their cross-pollination with Nissan has produced promising results, certainly for Nissan style-wise and for Renault engineering-wise. There could be some market conflict with Nissan's Infiniti, but I think of Infiniti as a niche-volume brand anyway, so could be room for some kind of Lancia-Infiniti co-existence -- a la Lincoln-Mercury dealerships in the US (would love to see Lancias at my local Infiniti dealer! :D ), or at least position the two in mutually-exclusive regional distributions (i.e. Lancia goes where Infiniti is not and vice-versa -- sad for the US, tho'... :( ).

As for factories, suppose FIAT threw in a factory or two as part of the deal? Perhaps with an initial "subcontracted production" deal or the like, to get Lancia production consolidated into one or two factories and/or develop transitional models based around the new owners' engines (no more Lampredi DOHC Lancias? Waaah! :cry: ), before a full handover?

Still, I see what you mean about FIAT needing to be daft about selling Lancia when it's the only one of their brands to increase sales lately. Perhaps we're at a fulcrum point, where we'll see if the sales news can reverse existing momentum to get rid of Lancia... :roll:

[A1.6HPE]

Hello all,
Lets try to keep the Lancisti Forums clear of rumours like this. The Viva-Lancia site offers plenty of that.

Leo