Stellantis is a reality and this new chapter between FCA and PSA has finally commenced. A lot of speculation about the upcoming products and strategies has taken place during the last weeks, especially after the announcements made by the CEO Carlos Tavares. One of them concerns the future of Lancia, which I think should not be saved. Below, I’ll tell you why.
Lancia, not in the radar
Although it continues to exist as an independent brand, Lancia became a niche local maker when FCA decided to suspend its presence outside of Italy. It was excluded from the many product plan presentations made by Sergio Marchionne, and reduced to only one model in only one market.
This secondary position within FCA Group was the consequence of several years of mismanagement. It all started in the late 90’s and continued for years with the terrible impact on the brand image and its sales. According to data from several European sources*, the global sales of Lancia fell from an annual average of 142,000 units in the 90’s to 117,000 in the 00’s, and to just 67,000 units in the 10’s.
At the same time its dependence on Italy jumped from 53% in 1994 to 79% in 2014, and 100% since 2018. As Lancia faded away from the European markets, its awareness has also shrunk among young drivers. The glorious past of the Lancia Stratos and Lancia Delta are only in the memories of people above their 40’s, while the younger generations barely know about it.
Suddenly there’s hope
But when everything seemed lost for Lancia, the Stellantis merger suddenly appeared. Under the new group, Lancia is one of the 14 brands that they have available. It now has to compete not only against Fiat and Alfa Romeo in order to get budget, but against mainstreams like Peugeot and Opel. Its 2020 sales volume counted for only 0.7% of the new group’s total, while they represented 1.3% of FCA volume in 2019.
Nevertheless, Carlos Tavares said that Lancia would join Alfa Romeo and DS in the premium pole of Stellantis. The announcement gave hope to the brand and its fans, and put Lancia back in the news. But is it sensible to talk about a resurrection of Lancia? Does Tavares really mean it?
Saving Lancia? Absolutely not
I don’t know his motivations, but it is my belief that giving another chance to Lancia is not sensible at all. These are my reasons:
- There are other priorities in the pipeline: the rinascimento of Alfa Romeo, with the Giulia and Stelvio, did not work. More than Lancia, the resources and efforts in the premium side of Stellantis must go to save Alfa Romeo and give oxygen to DS. They can barely manage these two premium brands, why would they need a third one?
- No possible positioning: how would Stellantis position Lancia within the brand portfolio? as a premium fancy brand? there is already DS; as a performance luxury brand? there’s already Maserati; as a sporty premium brand as it was once in the 80’s? there is already Alfa Romeo; as a semi-premium brand? there is already Peugeot. Honestly, I don’t see how Lancia could find its own personality in such a big universe of brands.
- Lack of awareness and bad reputation: why would you bother to relaunch a brand that left the European dealers 4 years ago after leaving a bad image? if there’s awareness among today’s buyers, it is a primarily a negative one.
- You can’t live from the past: Italy is a country that loves its traditions and the old days. It is part of its DNA and that’s probably what makes it so special. It happens to cars too: so many people are nostalgic about the glorious years when Lancia won the rally competitions and produced awesome cars. They think that Lancia could return by doing the same, but they forget that the world is different, and the Italian market is not a key market anymore.
- No international projection: if Opel struggles to expand its presence outside Europe, why would Lancia be more successful? Without sales potential in North America and China, the chances for a premium car brand are almost non-existent. Ask Jaguar or even DS.
*ANFIA, UNRAE, CCFA, KBA, Aniacam, ACEA
Fiat Group World 
Totally agree! Lancia had no place in FCA never mind in Stellantis… I think the only solution is to make it a niche brand like a Stellantis Alpine and trade on its rally heritage, but I doubt Stellantis has the money for this at the moment..
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I think they already have the model of a solution for Lancia within Stellantis itself: Vauxhall. Rebadge DSs and sell them as Lancias in Italy. The brand gets saved and DS gets better numbers in the Italian market. They should also make a smaller car to fill the void of the Ypsilon. DS3s sold well when launched back in the early 2010s, I don’t know why they gave up on it. It’s the market that keeps Mini afloat. Get the fiat 500e platform and make a fancier DS/Lancia out of it. That would be my last shot with Lancia before cancelling it.
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Thanks for your opinion.
The DS3 was a flop, and the 500e is already expensive enough to have a “fancier” version.
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What you’re proposing would not save Lancia. It would only broadcast the notion that Stellantis considers Lancia redundant. Another factor is that DS sources some of its models from China, which would have made them grossly unsuitable for a premium brand like Lancia even if a foolish rebranding strategy were chosen.
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You doubt whether ST has the money?? Plenty!
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Hello Felipe,
Difficult not to agree with you as I said in a reply to one of your posts not long ago.
That would have been the easiest option.
I believe the decision to rebuild the brand represents guts and courage from Tavares. He must have a vision…. only electric?
The biggest challange is to differenciate Lancia from DS and explore markets outside europe like china. The easy way would be a simple DS rebrand but it seems they will be more ambitious than that. Hope it works. Maybe they start building modern versions of past glorious cars like Delta and Fluvia.
Nevertheless the top priority has to be the turn around of Alfa… Maserati….and Fiat brands and to conquer the Chinese market.
Anyway… Stellantis is not FCA…reemember that.
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The easy way would be to axe the DS brand to make room for Lancia. Remember, DS is sourcing models from China (!) and is thus no longer a premium brand, although it was meant to be in the beginning, because PSA didn’t have any. Now it (or its successor, Stellantis) have several, including Lancia, which is a far stronger and more desirable brand than DS, which means nothing.
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“The EASY WAY would be TO AXE the DS brand to make room for Lancia. Remember, DS is sourcing models from China (!) and is thus no longer a premium brand”
Breakdown: The easy way? By the end of 2022, the Different Spirit label sold 1.000.000 cars.
Axe a profitable brand that’s preparing the follow-up generations of the DS7 and DS3 CB by a new label? Burn €250.000.000 R&D and CAPEX costs in the process?
“DS is sourcing models from China”? Who cares? Folks in Europe buy Chinese Volvo’s. Tennessee built BMW’s. Slovenian Peugeot’s. Turkish Renault’s, Polish Fiat 500’s, and …… Germany built DS!!
“A car from China can’t be premium”?? Come to your senses.
Btw, what is premium?
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Even if your fortune telling skills turn out to be up to the task, 1 million cars over 14 years only means about 6,000 cars a month. Not very impressive, and certainly not enough to make a case for the survival of a brand with zero identity at the expense of a strong, historical brand like Lancia being closed down.
The DS brand could easily be wound down simply by re-badging its models as Citroëns, which would in fact strengthen their brand image (except the Chinese-made models, obviously, which are beyond salvation and should be axed).
Who cares about models being made in China, you ask? Well, those who buy the cars, of course. The Chinese are specialists in building high-volume, low-quality products on the cheap. They do not build high-quality products. This means that a low-quality Chinese-made DS will only be palatable for consumers if it’s cheap to buy, which will make consumers more forgiving when they inevitably experience regular and major quality issues with their cars.
If you don’t know what a premium brand is, you should consider whether you have what it takes to participate in a discussion about cars.
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The only DS sourced from China is the DS9, which is just now entering the market!
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There is a very small space as a pure electric premium brand at the very top, think classic style to a Maserati sports style.
It could go towards a Bentley level, but that would be hugely expensive and not return much. Overall, it should have been resurrected and Alfa sold to Ferrari as an Alpine, or Lotus competitor. Still using Stellantis platforms. Instead Alfa have taken the premium sports branding and therefore there is no space for Lancia.
A shame to lose such a name.
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Lancia is positioned to fight Mercedes. Alfa target is BMW.
Difficult task obviously, but Stellantis aims that two brands – DS and Lancia – can fight Mercedes, starting in the French and Italian markets.
VW has done that with Audi, and it took a long time.
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Let Lancia fight Mercedes. DS can fight Dacia instead with its non-premium Chinese-made vehicles, or close down.
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DS could be a China only premium brand, where the ‘newness’ of the name will not matter.
Alfa should be sold off in a similar way to Ferrari, where Stellantis holds the majority share and Ferrari the other. They would work with Ferrari and Stellantis to create a brand like Lotus, Alpine & Porsche.
This would leave Maserati to come in to compete with BMW and Lancia with Mercedes, using Stellantis platforms.
Peugeot target VW, Citroen =DACIA, OPEL = SEAT.
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Lancia paired with Chrysler with higher end interiors.
Opel paired with Dodge. Like Vauxhall.
Lancia only B, C (Delta halo model small series, like Stratos too 100,000 euros cars), E, F segment. E/F Chryslers restyles to reduce costs. 4, 5 models.
Chrysler E, F, Minivan. 3 models. (SUVS already jeep).
DS focus in small luxury. Like Mini. There is no point of D, E, F cars. Only B and C segment.
Maserati big cars top premium, D, E, F.
Alfa B, C, D.
Try not to repeat segments between brands. Way too many brands but nice to offer product from many brands with different looks. Better strategy than VW.
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There are only a few things that are certain here in life, such as death, taxes and Felipe getting things wrong. And here we go again with yet another round of his anti-FCA brand sentiments.
Let’s look at his reasons:
1. There wasn’t a “rinascimento” of Alfa Romeo. There was a lot of noise about an Alfa Romeo relaunch, but the actual relaunch was abruptly halted after just one model – the Giulia, which is now half a decade old. The Stelvio is not an Alfa Romeo, it is for all intents and purposes a Jeep, the same can be said about the Tonale and the (tentatively named) Brennero. The Giulietta was dropped without a replacement after a lengthy period of uncertainty about its fate, and prior to the PSA merger there were no official plans to launch a single Alfa-Romeo-that-is-not-actually–Jeep in FCA’s official roadmap. So much for that “rinascimento”.
The idea that the storied Lancia brand should die to make way for the newly minted DS brand, which has absolutely no brand equity, is beyond absurd. If anything, DS is the brand that should be axed in favour of Lancia. And let’s not forget, Stellantis is not positioning DS as a premium brand. Exhibit A is the DS9, which is made in China – China!!! – for export to Europe. “Premium” and “made in China” are mutually exclusive, and Stellantis has chosen China, hence there can be no premium.
2. That’s why DS needs to go. That would be the easiest choice ever for an automotive CEO. DS was created by PSA because it didn’t have a premium brand. Now its successor Stellantis has several premium brands to develop, including Lancia, a unique and enviable position in the automotive sphere.
3. DS has zero brand awareness, it’s the closest thing ever to a non-brand, and as I just described, it’s not premium, unlike Lancia. And if we assume for the sake of argument that Lancia has a bad reputation, that’s no reason to give up the brand – that’s the kind of Marchionne-style nonsense that led FCA to the predicament that demanded a merger.
4. Hence the need for a new lineup that harnesses what was great with Lancia and makes it relevant to the present.
5. Without ambition, nothing is possible. Trying means occasionally failing, but not trying means guaranteed failure (as Marchionne demonstrated during his tenure of about a decade and a half). As for the Chinese market, it should be treated as being of zero relevance anyway, regardless of brand.
It really is abundantly clear that Felipe is no friend of the FCA brands, this is not the first time he’s essentially argued that an FCA brand should lay down and die.
With all this said, if Carlos Tavares actually were a capable CEO, he would have prioritized untangling Stellantis from China. As a matter of urgency, he should have kicked out Dongfeng as a Stellantis shareholder, and then fully withdrawn from China. Since he hasn’t done either of those things, it means he might be as capable as one might have hoped for.
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This one is for Fiat fan:
1 – There wasn’t a “rinascimento” of Alfa Romeo. Totally agree. They had the best platform – still better than the newly launched BMW M3 and M4 – but Giulia didn`t have SW or Coupe versions. How was it possible to built only two cars with the best platform????
Today, Giulia and Stelvio still don`t have a single hybrid version. A mess!
But you cannot avoid SUVs nowadays – Stelvio is an Alfa Romeo, and a good one. Macan isn`t a Porsche?
2 – DS needs to go. Maybe not. I agree that Lancia has more “heritage” but maybe it is better to fight Marcedes with two brands, being relevant in two markets – France and Italy. But is DS a luxury brand or a sports one??? Ds in motorsport????
3 – Without ambition, nothing is possible. Totally agree. That is why China cannot be left… got it? Just look how much it is important por VAG nowadays.
4 – Premium” and “made in China” are mutually exclusive. Maybe. But the main reason might be that the principal market for that DS car is China and not Europe…
5 – It really is abundantly clear that Felipe is no friend of the FCA brands. False. He just lost his faith in FCA, and didn´t realize yet that Stellantis and Tavares are “in” 😉
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There’s no need to avoid SUVs. Stellantis has a dedicated SUV brand in Jeep, however, so there’s no reason to taint brands like Alfa Romeo and Maserati with this kind of ill-fitting vehicles in their lineups. Porsche pre-Volkswagen didn’t have that luxury.
Fighting a premium brand like Mercedes-Benz is not done by importing low-quality vehicles from China and trying to sell them at unsustainable price points. That’s what Stellantis is trying to do with DS, and it’s completely laughable. DS should either be merged back into Citroën (the preferred option) or be re-positioned as a budget brand. In the former case, the Chinese-made models need to become China only.
China should be avoided because of the Chinese Communist Party. No company should be in a position where it is vulnerable to the whims of the CCP, and a company is taking huge risks by being present in China, while giving away its competitive advantage and know-how to the Chinese in the process. There’s a cost associated with not being in China as well, but in the long run it’s preferable to the alternative. Unfortunately, Western companies tend to have short-term thinking, so the allure of Chinese profits is too big, but a CEO worth his salt should know better.
If the main market for a Chinese-made car is China, that still does not excuse the act of exporting the car from China to Western markets. It only cheapens the brand and leaves those consumers stupid enough to buy these Chinese-made cars with lots of quality issues, damaging the reputation of the manufacturer in the process.
Felipe has not just lost his faith in FCA. If he had, he could simply have stated that he didn’t believe in the prospects of relaunching Lancia, or in building a new Punto for Fiat. Instead, he’s actually advocating that Stellantis not save Lancia and not build a new Punto. In this article, he’s doing so even by addressing the Stellantis CEO by name! It’s clear that he really wants to hurt the FCA brands – he truly must hate them.
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Thanks for your opinion. I do think that Stellantis can’t repeat the mistakes made by FCA. They were totally disconnected from what consumers wanted and this is why they worked on a 500L before launching a 500X. This is why they left Fiat with only one SUV in its lineup, while other brands like Seat, Citroen or Skoda have already more SUVs to offer. The disconnection with reality was the main cause of the death of Lancia, and the big issues of AR and Maserati. Italy is not all in the world, and whatever Italians buy is not what the rest of the world will buy. Look at the Panda: it is a very popular car in Italy, but it barely sells outside. You can’t be a global player when you don’t have enough competitive products with the global likes.
I love the Italian cars, and I have this blog to talk about them. But I’m not blind, and I think Stellantis must not keep doing what FCA was doing.
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Get a grip, The DS7 and DS3 are manufactured in France, the DS4 in …. GERMANY!
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Many of FCA’s mistakes were caused by Marchionne’s “brand glass ceiling”. Jeep and Ram were given all the resources, while brands like Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Maserati were either ignored (ostensibly due to their “poor reputation”, but in reality just because Marchionne didn’t want to spend money investing in them) or showered with lofty promises of relaunches that never materialized.
It is now up to Stellantis to undo Marchionne’s and FCA’s brand mismanagement, and that involves not only investing in new models, but also instilling some much-deserved self-confidence in the brands, with some proper marketing to go along with it. Enough with the nonsense that Lancias and Fiats only appeal to Italians, that’s just that silly glass ceiling manifesting itself.
If you really did think that “Stellantis must not keep doing what FCA was doing”, you wouldn’t have been actively encouraging that Stellantis finish off the brands that FCA was mismanaging, even by going the extent of writing an open letter to its CEO to do just that.
It simply isn’t possible to make a coherent argument in favour of axing a brand like Lancia while retaining a brand like DS, invented out of nothing just a few years ago and with zero brand cachet. And yet that’s what you do, so you clearly must have an ulterior motive. I think you simply have a hatred for FCA brands. Your hatred is so strong, in fact, that you write about “death of Lancia” even though Lancia is still alive – moribund, perhaps, but not quite dead yet, though you obviously want it to die.
There’s no need for Fiat SUVs, Lancia SUVs, Alfa Romeo SUVs or Maserati SUVs – one Fiat SUV is one more than necessary. Don’t forget – Stellantis has Jeep, a dedicated SUV brand. There’s only one other automaker that’s in a similar position, and that’s Tata, whereas automakers such as VW have to use other brands for SUVs. Stellantis brands do not have to have SUVs in their lineup and therefore have the luxury of pursuing other segments. Unfortunately, the Fiat brand has lost its way with the 500-themed models, and in that sense neither the 500L nor 500X should have been made. A new Punto and a new Bravo would have been a lot more appropriate.
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Thanks for your comment. SUVs are a must for all car brands. Even Ferrari is working on an SUV. So, yes, all of the Stellantis brands need SUVs, despite having Jeep on board. That’s where growth is, and actually this is why only Jeep has been able to grow among FCA brands.
I appreciate your love for Fiats and Lancias, but we have to be realistic. This is not about love, it is about money. A Lancia Thema, Lancia Fulvia, or whatever Lancia simply won’t work, and only a bunch of nostalgic would buy them. There’s no business plan that could afford it.
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“Let DS fight Dacia” ???? The ignorance,
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That would be the “ignorance” of Stellantis management trying to sell a low-quality vehicle made in China on the cheap as if it were a high-quality vehicle commanding a premium – like selling a Dacia and pretending it were a Mercedes-Benz.
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Fiat fan emotions should be excluded when making business decisions. I understand you are a fan of Italian brands which are part of Stellantis now, but what you have to understand is that Stellantis and all other brands are here to make money to their investors, simple as that. Right now the money is in SUV segment. Same number of parts per vehicle and higher prices which means more money for company. I am a huge Opel fan since forever but I try to be realistic. Everyone would love to see new Calibra for example but I am not gonna buy it. Noone of us would, so we cannot ask for model just so we can say omg look at this car its so beautiful. Opel would not have anything from my love. Only money. Stellantis first needs healthy base for all brands and after that they can allow them selfs to make unprofitable models to boost brands identity. Reviving old brand to fight them selves is not a smart business decision. Look at Tesla – no history and still the most worth car brand on earth. Lancia is right now only the name and nothing else. They start from scratch so call it DS, Lancia or Microwave its the same. Right now DS has better starting position with more models and stores around Europe so its an obvious choice where to invest and push.
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Totally agree!
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What needs to be said is that Marchionne destroyed FCA in Europe. Totally abandoned market and had no future plans at all for European market. Everyone was praising him as a great manager after his death, but lets be honest he had no plan for Europe and he left models to hold on in market for years without any planned successors. How is it possible that Fiat discontinued one of its most important models – Punto? 2 new Alfas and few unimportant models were presented by FCA Europe while he was in charge. He left ashes after him to deal with. All FCA models are dated and totally undesireable outside of Italy. The question is what Lancia can do outside of Italy now? No dealers, no new models, no connection to young buyers. Right now the brand is dead. Stellantis already has Europe covered and in next 2-3 years it will takeover VAG in the first place with sales for sure.
Peugeot sales will probably grow a little bit more with new 308, but their lineup is now very new and all models are aligned with new design language. I guess they will get stable with their numbers soon.
Opel should grow a lot now. New Mokka, Astra, Insignia, Grandland and Crossland will be presented in next 2 years. If it is to judge by Mokka they will follow Peugeot very close with numbers.
Citroen also completed lineup now and I guess no huge surprises can happen.
DS is niche brand and a lots can happen. They still dont have real retail network so it should grow with the time. There is also some space for 1-2 new models.
Maserati needs to mirror Porsche lineup – 2 sizes of SUV, limousine and coupe. 6 models in total.
Alfa Romeo – 6 models (suv and a car) in B C D segments for the beginning. I guess with the better design and quality they should achieve way better results than before.
Fiat needs the whole new lineup and I guess thats where the money should go now next to Alfa. They are still not dead and becoming Italian Citroen should work. Good design but reasonable prices.
So with all of this work for Opel, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Fiat why to expand Lancia? Maybe to try as heavily redesigned DS3 crossback and new Ypsilon for Italy?! But I still think that is too much money for only one market. Better to invest in Alfa and Fiat to cover that Ypsilon market.
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FIAT should compete with the MINI brand, with a range of small, supermini style chic cars that people will pay a premium for. Nobody wants Standard any more, every brand needs a USP.
Citroen looks like it is finding its USP with the new C4 and C5X, alongside the Aircross range.
Vauxhall/Opel are beginning to find a youth oriented feel to their cars. Peugeot more classic look.
This leaves the FCA brands.
JEEP move towards Land Rover and Range Rover as upmarket SUV.
Alfa move to become a Ferrari sister brand looking towards Alpine, Lotus.
Lancia becomes a classic upmarket brand Mercedes.
Maserati moves towards a bigger range towards BMW.
RAM commercial in US, China and Sth America, combined with IVECO in Europe and Africa and Asia.
Chrysler becomes a true luxury brand aiming at RR and Bentley.
Dodge becomes true American Muscle cars.
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Maybe they could make lancia a more premium option to those looking for cars like the one’s of subaru or that mitsubishi used to make? Like, they could make sedans and SUV focusing on the off-road aspect, that way beign a more premium option to Subaru and a off-road focused rival to Land Rover. I know that in the SUV part there’s Jeep wich is a more successful brand than lancia, but just as Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen and Opel can coexist as mainstream brands, I think Lancia and Jeep can coexist as off-road brands, with different styles, flair and appeal to different demographics, Jeep focusing on thoses who want a more rugged, boxy and American style SUV, and lancia focusing on more elegant, comfy but very capable off-road or AWD SUVs and cars.
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Thanks for sharing your opinion. I think Lancia has a very bad reputation to be relaunched. Worse than that, there’s very low awareness among young consumers.
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The “bad reputation” claim is pure BS, and you know it. It’s merely your own disdain for the brand talking.
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I really wish DS had never been created and then there may have been more chance to try to rebuild Lancia. The Citroen DS3 was a cool car with a great image which sold in good numbers here in the U.K. No one buys hardly any ugly and expensive modern day DS models. All the money wasted on this folly.
It is an interesting point someone made about DS models carrying a Lancia badge for Italy in the same way Opels have a Vauxhall badge in the U.K. but with an Opel and a Vauxhall you can pretty much change the badge and the transition is complete. The bizarre and ugly styling of DS would need a massive rework inside and out to remove any trace of the weird DS.
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You’re right in saying that DS should never have been created. Fortunately, phasing it out is as simple as renaming the existing DS models into Citroën models, since DS was after all a spin-off of Citroën. That would leave ample space for Lancia to thrive (which is something Felipe doesn’t want, because he truly HATES Lancia as well as other FCA brands, even as he pretends to be a rational analyst when he attacks them).
Rebadging models into Lancia is a poor idea, however, and has already been tried in recent times with the Chrysler-Lancia pairing. That was a full-blown disaster, and a similar operation with DS models would also be a disaster, in addition to reinforcing the notion that Stellantis considers Lancia a redundant brand.
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“…the resources and efforts in the premium side of Stellantis must go to save Alfa Romeo…”
Since 18 December 1991 all resources have passed from Lancia to Alfa, the good profits obtained with Thema, Delta and Dedra have been used to pay off Alfa Romeo’s debts by creating the “Alfa-Lancia Industriale” group.
The result: in 30 years Lancia has been sacrified for the (repeatedly announced) renaissance of Alfa Romeo as a global sub-premium brand, when in reality it is not. Alfa Romeo in its history has never made large sales volumes.
You recommend closing Lancia, when in all those years it has never had a serious opportunity to show its potential. Rebadge of Chrysler models. Obsolete and baroque style. Use of old platforms. No sports model (HF style) to don’t disturb the Alfa.
So kill Lancia to save DS…
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Honestly, everyone focuses on how Lancia doesn’t fit in Stellantis, but look at what Maserati has become… They’re bad cars, and for the price they charge, they’re actually absolutely awful. Both brands should be sold to someone else that could do something with them. Lancia has 0 chance in the luxury market, the best they could become is a Fiat or VW competitor right now; it is a shame, yes, but it is what it is I guess.
Maserati still has lots of brand recognition aroud the globe, so with some restructuring they could become a viable Mercedes competitor; but not in the hands of Stellantis. They have to focus on getting Alfa Romeo on somewhat equal footing to BMW and Audi. If they keep both brands, Alfa Romeo will never have a 166 sucessor (since it would definitely destroy Ghibli sales), let alone a flagship executive sedan and larger SUVs (which would definitely destroy Levante sales).
I have zero idea who would want to buy both Lancia and Maserati, staying within Europe my best guess would be Renault or VW, but I don’t think VW needs anymore brands that they can’t sell outside of Europe. Maybe the same guys that bought Volvo? Frankly I don’t have an exact answer (it wouldn’t depend on it anyways, whoever buys it buys it), but it just doesn’t seem like these two brands will survive in any decent shape within Stellantis.
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this guy Felipe is a moron 😦
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God, Felipe, you are an imbecile. Thank goodness no one at Lancia or Stellantis listens to you.
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Love to you too!
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I think Lancia should be saved because the intangible of the brand as a powerful meaning. There’s an accumulated value over a product, that’s why VW buy brands. Maybe the investors could be others, Chinese companies with batteries or hardware tech to lead Lancia to this new era and new markets. The Opel example is true but from a brand without soul, VW gave Bugatti what it needed, and VW use the brand to show what the top of their tech could do. I think Lancia has some of the Italian passion, mystique that some of the many many new brands will never get, so buy the brand and everything that comes along with it.
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I think all of that glorious past, soul and passion you mention are lost. The brand ruined all of that over the last 30 years. It is all gone, and today, no one, except for some low/middle-class Italians that buy the Ypsilon, wants a Lancia.
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Felipe, with all due respect I don´t think so, the brand has personality, character and charisma, also international awards. It was baddly managed yes but with a good strategy and money the brand could get back to mainstream. De Lorean did it with one car and one movie series. Maybach was dead for 65+ years until Mercedes bought it (and Mercedes with all the ¨experts¨ did a bad use of the brand, still does). I believe the best strategy is to sell it to an asian investor, do you know how much does it worth to get a brand on people´s mind? Lancia is known all over the world…, don´t you think It will be easier to an unknown brand to buy Lancia, insted of start from cero? In a market when Brand means everything?
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