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Lancia (or not)


                                                       This is a Chrysler, apart from in Italy, where its a Lancia

 Badge engineering and marketeers gone mad

 It seems that we're not allowed to drive new Lancia's in the UK, or rather we are, but only sort of. Travel to Italy and you'll notice that most people who aren't driving a Fiat are probably driving a Lancia. They're everywhere. Not rusty, not broken down sitting in a heap by the side of the road, but real live Lancia's stylishly swishing around the streets of Pisa and pretty much everywhere else. 

 However, some marketing genius has decided that given we all (don't) remember how poor Lancias were in the 70's and 80's, they couldn't possibly re-launch them over here. So, they've done it by stealth and launched the Delta here with a Chrysler Badge. Bizarrely, in Italy, the opposite is true and the Chrysler 300, (A car less Italian I can't imagine -see above), has just been launched as a Lancia. How odd. So, what does Chrysler mean to you, what brand values does it instill?. Well to me Chrysler in the UK means some sort of hideous re-badged 70's Hillman Avenger or the awful  Sebring convertible I hired in the states on holiday, which is also about to morph into a Lancia in the states.

 So, while you're waiting to see one of these new Deltas and I suspect it will be some time, consider this. The entire world used to think that Skodas were rubbish, but they re-branded, stuck at it and look what's happened. Now we all think they're rather good. Why couldn't Lancia have done that? I would happily buy a Lancia. I don't think I'll ever buy a Chrysler.
This is a Lancia, except in the UK where the next time you see one it will have a silly Chrysler badge stuck on its nose


Lancia Delta
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