Stratos
Fancy a new one of these? Lancia is intent on building a sports-car concept for the Geneva show in 2009. And the Lancia bosses are serious about turning it into a low-volume production car. Now of course Lancia has form here: the Beta Monte Carlo, or more esoterically the Stratos. But they were an awfully long time go. Is this really credible nowadays?
I use the word ‘credible’ because the boss does. Olivier Francois is the man charged with getting Lancia out of the dumpster of history. He’s actually doing rather well on the continent, selling more cars through canny marketing, even though he hasn’t had any actual new metal until the recent arrival of the new Delta.
The Delta comes to the UK in mid 2009.
And he’s planning an all-new car every six months after that. New Ypsilon (the current one is the oddball holiday rentacar of choice if you’re ever in Italy). New Musa (bizarre small luxo-people carrier, equally bizarrely adored on home turf). A new coupe to rival the Scirocco (he hasn’t yet gotten this one signed off by the top brass at Fiat group).
They’re individual, fairly classy, left-field cars. They’re all, in the boss’s words, ‘credible, feasible and distinctive.’
Montecarlo
But they’re not sporty. Which makes the Geneva car look well out of place. ‘It’s a performance car, low volume and high spec. We’re serious about building it.’
He tells me it won’t be limited like the Alfa 8C Competizione, but mentions the tradition of the Beta Montecarlo and Stratos.
None of which answers the question of why. It just seems out of place for a Lancia now that the nameplate’s racing and rallying is no more than ancient history. Of course, it’s only a concept, and as he speaks, Geneva is several months of economic unpredictability away. By 2009 the idea of any such luxury could seem like nothing more than a daydream.
Whatever happened to the updated version of the Stratos we saw a few years ago? There was a car crying out to put into production if ever I saw one. And who’s to say that with the resurgence of the Fiat Group in general that we won’t see a Lancia WRC car at some point in 2010 although personally the idea of the new Fiat 500 with AWD and 300bhp blasting through the Finnish forests has a certain appeal.
the new lancia stratos or beta monte carlo would be a great idea and release a stratos rally or beta monte carlo gt racer at some point.
Could this be the twenty-somethingth time we are told the Fulva concept will make it to production….. maybe?
I hope they make an actual new supercar.
Not like that Concept they Unleashed Way Back, The “New Stratos”.
What that Company needs right now is an affordable Price Supercar , Like an Alfa 8c.
So Please Lancia , Not another Bloody Delta.
Oh , Maybe Some Martini Stripes on the Model.
As i am to young to remember the days of the Stratos ripping up the finish forests surely i derserve to expierience a brand new version. It should be LAW!
I like new site. It just is a proper Top Gear site, I guess what it always should’ve been. So big up! Great job.
I thought it’s THE Delta that ought to be ‘a new coupe to rival the Scirocco’. It’s a Seat Toledo-like monospace thing that has a rear end ripped off Nissan Murano. Right… I hope they don’t tarnish another great name with their new concept of Lancia.
Lancia have made some fantstic sports cars. All though the more recent family cars where utter rubbish i’m Sure if they went back to some hardcore sports cars they would be back on top form.
I love the Delta. I saw it in Corfu this Summer. It looked amazing. If they could make a 3-door coupe like Renault has with the Megane then they may have a winner. But one brand can’t survive on one car, that people think looks ‘questionable’. Lancia needs to get lots of new car sizes out before they are strapped, and a new Stratos coupe would be great.
Lancia, just hand on before you think about SUV’s though. They aren’t the future.
lancias new cars look like they were crapped out of a rhinos arse!!!
Which is a pity because their old ones ruled
That new stratos wasn’t made by lancia, it was another design company calle fenomenon. I think.
I meant called. But you knew that.
car he similar on ferrari
i like this new website of Tg
Old Lancias looked very much like old Alfas… Now Lancia is Fiat i.e. it can make benefit of work done by Alfa, Maserai, and Ferrari. Why not use the future Alfa 149 platform to make a Delta Coupe and the Integrale version? Stratos can be based on the upcoming Maserati GranSport replacement model. Do the styling and off you go!
i loved the stratos, it was such a beautiful car.
i think lancia should do what ford did with the GT40, and re-release the stratos but modernise it. im sure jezza would love it!
as long as it kept the same shape.
they could even go rallying again!
I agree that a sportscar hardly sits comfortably with the current Lancia range, most of which look like they were styled by a Belgian chocolatier.
That said, remember that the MGF was a mid-engined sportscar built largely from Rover 200 and Metro bits. With the modern Fiat group parts bin to play from, I’m sure Lancia engineers could come up with something that’s both interesting and reasonably priced.
Hey, Im sorta hoping someone will reply to this:
I’m a big fan of Lotus, and am amazed to read on their site that they’ve made a brand-new car (or a concept of one, I’m not sure) called the “Evora” the site video’s etc. look brilliant, I was hoping one of you would be able to review it in the next series of Top Gear.
Thanks, Pingk
When roads are full of fiestas,mondeos and escorts its impossible to understand and to accept shapes and designs like the new Thesis, delta and Ypsilon…maybe after 5 to 10 years it’ll come to us….
What Lancia needs it’s a new beginning, like Alfa Romeo did. Todays range is… scrapyard. Long life in our memory: Lancia Thema 8-32, delta integrale, stratos, monte-carlo, Aurelia b24 spider…
i think an a stratos remake wud be really cool
what lancia needs is a brain? to little to late there cars are about as exciting as cheese?
ugly motor
I think it would be a good idea, but Lancia need to make it pretty, otherwise it probably wouldn’t sell; can’t wait for a rally version
Hope Lancia would make the new Stratos and Delta good-looking. Lancia’s current lineup features some of the ugliest cars ever made especially the Thesis..
Lancia should bring back the hot-hatches, and stop making stupid family cars that look like that Ssang-Yong people carrier, with the weird triangular grills.
JUST SEEN NEW DELTA AT N.E.C. SHOW.MUCH BETTER LOOKING IN THE METAL, THAN PICTURES.CLASSY FINISH INTERIOR, ESPECIALLY UPHOLSTERY—– U KNOW WHAT THEY SAY- ONE MANS MEAT ———-etc.
Gotten ??
I see Lancias as always being at the cutting edge. They are joyous things like a Panerai watch or a (Jimmy) Saville Row suit.
Another thing, the integrale (NOT intERgrale or Integrale (capitalised!!!!!! NO!!!)) it was the only car that really separated the common men from the common boys…..if you bought one you had to live with the fragileness of it all, German car buyers are just cop out merchants. Ask yourself, if you have all the money in the world, what car would you buy. I bet 4 out the top five would be italian.
Another thing, find a modern Hot hatch (or any class of car) that can do 0-100mph not G*Y kph i.e. 60mph in the time the integrale could. …..ok then now look at the price….got change from £30,000 no. LOL i stab at the heart of you BMW, Porsche and Mercedes.
I’d love to see Lancia build a car that is to FIAT what the Audi “S” type or “RS” is to the A4 series. Or perhaps what the M3 is to a 316 compact with 4wd. Trouble is, these cars have a range of other, very desirable cars that sit alongside it. I’d love to believe in the Delta, but to “launch” or allow to be seen a new Lancia in a market not visited since 1994 at a Classic Car show on a club stand steeped in traditional and historic greats… it’s not looking like a serious statement of intent anytime soon.
PLEASE MAKE IT BIG ENOUGH FOR A 6″ FOOTER AS MY MONTES AND BETAS FROM PAST HAVE NEVER QUITE FITTED WERE NOT ALL SHORT ITALIAN DRIVERS WITH 2 LEFT FEET !
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