The return of Lancia....

The new Delta, to be sold in Alfa dealerships!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7277348.stm

On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:06:10 -0000, " cupra" >
wrote:

>The new Delta, to be sold in Alfa dealerships!
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7277348.stm
>

Genius! The guy who thought up the idea of letting dealers, currently
selling one poor selling marque, now sell two poor selling marques
should get a medal. The dealers will be queuing up for that unmissable
financial misery.

They should pair up Lancia and or Alfa with something that can earn a
few quid - like..er..Fiat?! My old dealership used to do this and the
Fiat end was always full of activity while the Alfa end felt like
you'd just entered a library full of unwanted books. Service was great
though as you could have all the salesmen and service receptionists to
yourself!!

Lancia have a worse reputation in the UK than Alfa and they simply can
not be good sellers here as a result regardless of how good the car
is. Alfa have already shown that.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

Zathras wrote:
> On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:06:10 -0000, " cupra" >
> wrote:
>
>> The new Delta, to be sold in Alfa dealerships!
>>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7277348.stm
>>
>
> Genius! The guy who thought up the idea of letting dealers, currently
> selling one poor selling marque, now sell two poor selling marques
> should get a medal. The dealers will be queuing up for that unmissable
> financial misery.
>
> They should pair up Lancia and or Alfa with something that can earn a
> few quid - like..er..Fiat?! My old dealership used to do this and the
> Fiat end was always full of activity while the Alfa end felt like
> you'd just entered a library full of unwanted books. Service was great
> though as you could have all the salesmen and service receptionists to
> yourself!!
>
> Lancia have a worse reputation in the UK than Alfa and they simply can
> not be good sellers here as a result regardless of how good the car
> is. Alfa have already shown that.

Yep - I know what you mean.... they want the niche market but not the niche
volumes!

I'll be interested to see the new car though, and see how it fits into the
Fiat Group offering....

In article >,
says...
> On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:06:10 -0000, " cupra" >
> wrote:
>
> >The new Delta, to be sold in Alfa dealerships!
> >
> >http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7277348.stm
> >
>
> Genius! The guy who thought up the idea of letting dealers, currently
> selling one poor selling marque, now sell two poor selling marques
> should get a medal. The dealers will be queuing up for that unmissable
> financial misery.
>
> They should pair up Lancia and or Alfa with something that can earn a
> few quid - like..er..Fiat?! My old dealership used to do this and the
> Fiat end was always full of activity while the Alfa end felt like
> you'd just entered a library full of unwanted books. Service was great
> though as you could have all the salesmen and service receptionists to
> yourself!!
>
> Lancia have a worse reputation in the UK than Alfa and they simply can
> not be good sellers here as a result regardless of how good the car
> is. Alfa have already shown that.
>
>

It'll be like the good old days of British Leyland, with Rover and
Triumph taking business off each other. Although if sales go up I don't
suppose Fiat will worry too much.


--
Halmyre

That's you that is.

Zathras wrote:

> Lancia have a worse reputation in the UK than Alfa and they simply can
> not be good sellers here as a result regardless of how good the car
> is. Alfa have already shown that.

Although the memories of Beta's engines falling out should have faded
the perception that Alfas rust and bits fall off is still hard to shake,
so we will see.

I thought the Fulvio concept looked great but all the modern Lancia
designs I have seen have left me cold, I would love to see some retro
Lancia designs.

Incidentally the Fiat 500 in that Lancia article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7277348.stm looks the exact spec of
my wife's on order! Doesn't look like the wife next to it though -
better not comment anymore in case she reads this

Cheers
Tony

On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:36:18 GMT, Tony R
> selected combat throttle and
flew into a dogfight with:

>Zathras wrote:
>
<snip>

>Although the memories of Beta's engines falling out should have faded

False memories - just stories made up for Sun readers ... by the Daily
Mail.

<snip>

>I thought the Fulvio concept looked great but all the modern Lancia

Fulvia.


HTH
--
Max Reheat () - disengage Part Throttle Reheat to reply.

Alfa 156 2.0 JTS Selespeed Veloce
Lancia Dedra 1.8i.e.SE

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:13:10 +0000, "Max Reheat <]###[="
> wrote:

>On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:36:18 GMT, Tony R
> selected combat throttle and
>flew into a dogfight with:

>>Although the memories of Beta's engines falling out should have faded
>
>False memories - just stories made up for Sun readers ... by the Daily
>Mail.

Did Lancia leave the UK because of rust, the Daily Mail or something
else?

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:26:07 GMT, Zathras
> selected combat throttle and
flew into a dogfight with:

>On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:13:10 +0000, "Max Reheat <]###[="
> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:36:18 GMT, Tony R
> selected combat throttle and
>>flew into a dogfight with:
>
>>>Although the memories of Beta's engines falling out should have faded
>>
>>False memories - just stories made up for Sun readers ... by the Daily
>>Mail.
>
>Did Lancia leave the UK because of rust, the Daily Mail or something
>else?

Difficult to see the point you're trying to make here.

Lancia left RHD markets because of lack of sales, which could equally
be blamed on poor marketing.

WRT rust, modern Lancias have galvanised bodies and are subsequently
no worse than their contemporaries.

--
Max Reheat () - disengage Part Throttle Reheat to reply.

Alfa 156 2.0 JTS Selespeed Veloce
Lancia Dedra 1.8i.e.SE

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:58:55 +0000, "Max Reheat <]###[="
> wrote:

>On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:26:07 GMT, Zathras
> selected combat throttle and
>flew into a dogfight with:

>>Did Lancia leave the UK because of rust, the Daily Mail or something
>>else?
>
>Difficult to see the point you're trying to make here.

All I remember of that issue was severe rust and reliability issues,
particularly affecting the Beta (IIRC), then Lancia upped and left the
UK.

>Lancia left RHD markets because of lack of sales, which could equally
>be blamed on poor marketing.

Nah..it was a discredited product. Frankly if a product is really good
enough, you don't need much marketing - word of mouth *will* do it.
The word of mouth at the time was "don't go near a Lancia". I suspect
Lancia knew they wouldn't win that battle regardless so they pulled
out.

>WRT rust, modern Lancias have galvanised bodies and are subsequently
>no worse than their contemporaries.

I don't doubt it. I saw a white Dedra up here a while back and there
was no sign of rust even though it was clear the owner didn't really
look after it.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)