I saw one of these today, rear and side views only, and have finally tracked down what it was.
www.chrysler.co.uk/delta
The website doesn't do it justice, in black it looked superb. And my brief web reading suggests it is a good car.
Mystery is why on earth it's marketed here as a Chrysler, even allowing that the Lancia brand has been killed off in the UK.
Even a Fiat 'style' sub brand would have been a better option. It is after all a Fiat, not a Chrysler, a name that is associated in the UK with lumpen utility vehicles.
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I saw one when they were first launched, Im also a fan, it does look fab in the flesh.
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Chrysler have always had something of a death wish as far as branding in the UK goes. In the late 1970s Hillmans, Humbers etc were all rechristened Chrysler, and with no brand image sales plummeted, and weren't helped one jot by the further renaming as Talbot.
Here they go again. Lancia would of course have been a better name to use: rust was thre problem with the previous generation of Lancias, and no-one is suggesting that the new Delta is going to rust in the same way. The proof that the new Delta isn't selling is that a keen observer like Manatee didn't know what it was.
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I think that the styling will provoke strong reactions. Personally, I think that it looks very stylish inside and out.
The major fly in the ointment for me is that there is only one engine offered with an automatic gearbox - the 1.6 diesel. It's a bit of a snail, and the 49.6 claimed mpg is poor compared to what the Germans can offer. ( BMW 116d equivalent does a claimed 62.8 mpg for example).
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It is sold in the UK as a Chrysler is because Chrysler is an existing, accepted brand with a viable UK dealer network, and there was also a need to widen the range as cheaply as possible. Fiat couldn't afford to resurrect Lancia.
In Europe the Chrysler models such as the 300c and the Grand Voyager are sold as Lancias.
At the end of the day the Delta is only a re-skinned Bravo, and the Ypsilon a re-skinned Fiat Panda.
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Just tried to look up the link provided by the OP on my Android tablet, and get a "content not available, forwarding to desktop site" message. It then gets stuck in a loop.
I hope their cars are better than their website.
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The Lancia / Chrysler "tie up" has provided them with some mish mash models, some from each brand. When these are replaced they will be more cohesive, ie all designed together from the start.
IIRC the only reason they have brought the Delta to the UK is that they had already engineered a RHD version when they were thinking about re introdusing the brand a few years ago. The sales targets for them are very modest.
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>> I hope their cars are better than their website.
>>
Don't hold one's breath....
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I accept that Chrysler is a recognised brand but accepted is a step too far!
Last edited by: Meldrew on Thu 21 Jun 12 at 09:21
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Well - more accepted than Lancia would be post-Beta.
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>> It is sold in the UK as a Chrysler is because Chrysler is an existing,
>> accepted brand with a viable UK dealer network, and there was also a need to
>> widen the range as cheaply as possible. Fiat couldn't afford to resurrect Lancia.
>> In Europe the Chrysler models such as the 300c and the Grand Voyager are sold
>> as Lancias.
I think its also to do with Co2 figures. Chrysler in Europe only had larger models such as the voyager, but by adding re-badged fiats it gets the brands average Co2 figure down.
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>> I saw one of these today, rear and side views only, and have finally tracked
>> down what it was.
>>
You need to see it from the front. So scarily ugly it makes small children cry, saw enough in Italy, the sea crossing hasnt made less ugly.
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This cuts both ways, I passed a new Chrysler Voyager on the autobahn yesterday and it was badged as a Lancia.
I wonder if GM are trying to replicate the Vauxhall / Opel split with Chrysler / Lancia?
As for the naming, I heard that they ran a survey on "What does the Lancia name mean to you?" and every answer included "Rust" and "Unreliable".
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Have no idea why they branded it as a Chysler. It is highly ironic really that a FIAT should end up wearing that badge.
It is just a shame how Lancia is ruined in the UK. Maybe if they didn't pull out of the market in 1994 and so their better cars were sold here they would not have the reputation.
It was really the Beta which caused all the problems wasn't it? "We give Lada/AutoVAZ the designs in exchange for their steel" Not one of the best decisions FIAT made!.
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>>You need to see it from the front. So scarily ugly it makes small children cry, saw enough in Italy, the sea crossing hasnt made less ugly. <<
Absolutely.
When I heard there was to be a new Delta I perked up, thinking I might become a Lancia owner again. Then I saw one.
Who was it said that the big Italian group employs artists to design Alfas, breaks their fingers and gets them to draw Fiats, then chops their hands off before making them come up with Lancias?
This was mine. Like a fool I sold it to a bloke who traced me after seeing it in the street and offered me a big wodge of cash.
tinyurl.com/6ton4rd
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>>This was mine. Like a fool I sold it to a bloke who traced me after seeing it in the street and offered me a big wodge of cash.
tinyurl.com/6ton4rd<<
Nice car Michael, I've tuned a fair few of those and lost count of the times No. 4 plug was cross-threaded previously by some ham-fisted Richard Head.
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Thank you, kind sir. I let it go because I thought I needed something sensible to hack around in for work, so I bought this.
tinyurl.com/6uuw9or
Our relationship lasted about six months - I hated it so much (it went round corners like a camel, compared with the HPE) I ended up using the Daimler for work at one stage!
My son was in the Tesco car park in Shepton Mallet a couple of weeks ago and spotted the Daimler. We had a little cry together...
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>>I thought I needed something sensible to hack around in for work, so I bought this.
tinyurl.com/6uuw9or<<
I had an SRi too, AND it was an automatic! - I can think of a lot worse cars though:)
The Daimler looks absolutely gorgeous!
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I was secretly hoping they hadn't put the new Lancia corporate grille on this. But they have. And it's just as hideous as it is on every other model.
I was shocked on my first road trip to the continent to see the sheer ugliness that wore the Lancia badge. I still associate Lancia with good looking cars during the time they were in the UK. The old Delta was a good looking car (esp as an Integrale), as were the Beta and Thema.
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Lancia is a name steeped in tradition and Lancia-badged cars have always been interesting, although recent small Lancias have had peculiar aesthetics. Chrysler is one of the four big US car and vehicle conglomerates and its cars, while seldom glamorous, are sound, satisfactory consumer products.
I don't count the Singer Vogue I used as a minicab because it was really a Rootes Group product from before the takeover. But the 1964 Plymouth I owned in the US for a short time was really excellent, and my present, Mexican-made Chrysler has so far proven faithful and reliable.
Yet some people here are inclined to sneer at both names. A bit provincial and ignorant of them if you ask me.
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I like the Delta too, but only when it is all the same colour. The two tone versions are horrid.
The Delta has now joined the Alfa Giuletta on my short list to replace the Octavia, when the time comes. Depreciation could be my friend for once in assisting the future purchase.
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Just had a play on the Lancia site. Interesting to note that the horrendous 300C (as it became known on another site) looks marginally less appalling as a Lancia Thema - but that's not to say it looks anything like good.
Saw a few Deltas in France. Not Giulietta-pretty, but still pleasingly distinctive. Lancia's site suggests you can have one with a matt-black roof, though - although I'm not sure why anyone would.
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".... pleasingly distinctive....."
Ah. Damned with faint praise.....
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Lancia/Chrysler Delta - Stuu
