Intro: Lancia has an illustrious past but lately it has been suffering as "the other luxury brand" within Fiat Spa while Alfa Romeo basks in the glory.
Vincenco Lancia built his first car in 1906 but it was the Lambda, one of the first unitary construction in the world which made the company renowned all over the world. The Lambda, introduced in 1922 featured independent first suspension and while it was sporty, it also possessed luxury qualities.
During the 1930s the aerodynamically shaped Aprilia and its successor, the first post-war Lancia, the Aurelia were quite succesful types but the company overstretched itself and a financial group took control in 1955. Although new cars were put on the market the monetary situation remained critical so Fiat Spa took over the company in 1969.
Such gems as the first generation Delta or the rally-legend Stratus added spice to the Lancia name, but the mass-produced cars were plainly boring.
The situation was not improved when Fiat swallowed Alfa Romeo in 1987. So far Fiat never found the proper solution to manage two similarly positioned brands. While Alfa Romeo is now an independent business unit, Lancia remained part of the Fiat-Lancia division.
Sales are depressing: in November, 2002 7720 Lancias were sold in Italy, 5440 of them Ypsilons. |
