About LanciaVincenzo Lancia was groomed from a young age for a career in the business of bookkeeping, but his true passion was for machines and cars. By 1899, he was 19 and working for Fiat as head inspector, test driver, and racer. His racing success lead Lancia to found his own company, Lancia & Cie, Fabbrica Automobili, in 1906.The Greek alphabet served as basis for model names, beginning with the Alfa in 1908. Vincenzo's interest in engineering lead to many pioneering firsts during the early years, like independent suspension, monocoque bodies, 5-speed transmissions, and the first production V6 engine. The Lancia hallmarks of innovation, quality, and styling came at the cost of affordability of the cars and profitability for the company. Vincenzo's son Gianna assumed control upon his father's death in 1937, and his obsession with racing nearly bankrupt Lancia. Gianna, along with his mother, sold off the remaining... View more family shares in 1955. Fiat then took over in 1969. The first Lancia produced under Fiat's management was the ill-fated Beta. While the model was initially praised for its styling and handling, a significant number of the cars suffered premature rust issues, putting Lancia in the uncomfortable position of having to buy back new cars. The actual number of affected cars was small, but media attention created a misperception that all Lancias were prone to rust, and that legacy was hard to shake. The flipside of Lancia's reputation for rust is its history of racing success. The Lancia Stratos was developed in the 1970s and won the World Rally Championships in 1974, 1975, and 1976. It was the first time a car had been developed from the ground up for the express purpose of rallying. The Montecarlo won the World Championship for Makes in 1980 and 1981, and its successor, the Lancia Rally 037, won the manufacturer's world championship in 1983. The Ferrari-engined LC2 raced in the World Sportscar Championships from 1983 to 1986 and was faster and more powerful than the Porsche 956, but reliability and fuel economy issues kept it from winning. The Delta S4 was a Group B racer driven in the World Rally Championships in 1985 and 1986 until Group B was banned from racing, based on concerns that the cars were too fast to be safe. The Delta S4 was soon replaced by the four-wheel-drive Delta HF, and from 1987 to 1992, Lancia again dominated the World Rally Championships. Throughout the decades, Lancia's availability in the United States has tended to be fleeting. More recently, since parent company Fiat's investment in Chrysler in 2009, there has been some talk of cross-branding between Chrysler and Lancia. A Chrysler-badged Lancia Delta was shown at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show. View less | |||
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