The writing's on the wall for Lancia

The Delta HF Integrale was the last performance orientated Lancia, a car that became a hugely successful rally competitor  

It seems that the end is nigh for one of the great names of the automotive world; Lancia.
I've been a great fan of this most Italian of marques. They've produced some fantastic cars over the years, often of a sporty, elegant and pretty nature. Names that spring to mind include such delights as the Stratos, Fulvia, Flavia, Aurelia and Delta.
It's fair to say though that times have changed greatly for Lancia over the last few decades. Although the name conjures up memories from the company's heyday, the reality is that Lancia's cars have been a dying breed for some time. Relatively mediocre products that share very little relevance to what Lancia once stood for has to be the main cause of this decline.

The Lancia Fulvia was a pretty car. Seeing one tackle a rally stage is quite a sight!

This change of direction from offering sporty, elegant cars to ones that focused on comfort and 'luxury' was taken by parent company Fiat. Company bosses decided to leave the performance side of the business to Alfa Romeo and allow Lancia to focus on models that offered customers an affordable way into a premium-like mainstream brand. I've often compared the current Lancia to that of Rover before the British brand's demise in 2005. The fact is that most people can see past a mainstream car with flashy trim.
It's sad that we've seen Lancia reduced to offering such travesties as the Fiat Idea based Musa, the Fiat Ulysee based Phedra and the quite frankly hideous Thesis executive saloon.

The latest Delta was based on the Fiat Bravo. The model was rebadged as a Chrysler for the UK market

Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne decided to align Lancia with Chrysler following his firm's stake and subsequent control of the American giant. Two Lancia specific models remained, the Delta (above) and the Ypsilon supermini. The rest of the range were badge engineered Chryslers such as the 300C based Thema and the Grand Voyager MPV.
Fiat decided against reintroducing Lancia to the UK market since the brand's pull-out of 1995 and instead re-badged the Delta and Ypsilon as Chryslers in order to fill the gap in the American marque's UK product offering.
Sales of Lancias continued to decline which led the brand to offer only the Ypsilon supermini to selected European markets, a minnow when it comes to modern car manufacturing. No news has been given on what will happen to Lancia when the current Ypsilon reaches the end of its life in 2018. The likelihood is that Lancia will be wound down entirely.
This is a shame but rather inevitable. Fiat needs to focus on its core brands including the growth and sustainable revival of Alfa Romeo. Fiat have often struggled to do this ever since they acquired Alfa Romeo in 1986.

The Delta S4 was produced for the purposes of Group B rallying in the 80's

Even so, seeing Lancia being consigned to the history books will be sad. The company has existed for 109 odd years and have not only produced some beautiful and desirable cars but have also pioneered with the introduction of the V4 and V6 engine, monocoque construction as well as traditional and compound turbocharging.
Naming my favourite Lancia is difficult but the Flavia HF would have to be one of them.
Feel free to share your views on Lancia's unfortunate fall from grace...