One time, on a certain British automotive TV show, two members of a trio of hosts you’ve probably heard of On Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond famously praised ‘some truly great Lancias. While Lancia can sometimes be the laughingstock in the car world, mostly because of reliability (or lack thereof), we can’t deny the impact the brand has had on the automotive world.
From genuine innovations, like one of the world’s first series-production V6 engines (introduced on the 1950 Lancia Aurelia), to an all-conquering rally dynasty that comprised the 037, the Stratos, and the Delta Integrale, Lancia has left quite the mark on car history. They may not have been all that reliable, but they were truly fascinating and, oftentimes, pretty good to drive.
Lancia was pretty much given the boot in the 2000s, leaning heavily on platform sharing — first with Fiat models, later with Chrysler-based rebadges, and more recently with Stellantis hardware shared with cars like the Peugeot 208. However, before Fiat stopped seeing the potential in Lancia, they were given one last chance to take the world of luxury cars by storm; the Thesis.
How the Thesis Came To Be
The Thesis, the final proper Lancia sedan, can trace its roots back to the Dialogos concept car shown at the 1998 Turin Motor Show. Fun fact:Fiat also showcased the Multipla around that same 1998 Turin Motor Show period. The Dialogos was a showstopping luxury sedan with coach doors and a curvy exterior inspired by the incredible Aurelia.
Of course, it would take a few years for the production car to materialize, but not before an almost finished prototype of what would become the Thesis was gifted to the Pope during the Great Jubilee in 2000. Eventually, the production Lancia Thesis debuted at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show, with its interior shown later that year at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Straight away, the Thesis made it clear that it wasn’t going to run with the pack, and that conservative, safe styling was not a priority for the designers. It was a very unusual design, to say the least. Some loved it, some hated it, but it’s tough to dispute how distinctive it is. The tiny headlights, the thin, tail fin-inspired rear end and slim taillights, and the influence from the Dialogos concept car all made the Thesis stand out. For both the right and the wrong reasons.
As well as trying to tempt people away from the Germans with the styling, the Thesis carried a lower sticker price than the competition. But you have to dig deeper to see how seriously Lancia took this whole thing.
A Completely Bespoke Platform
Platform sharing is easily the most common practice in the car industry right now. Loads of cars all share one common platform, as that saves engineering costs and allows the automakers to pad out the lineup very efficiently. Ironically, Stellantis is still extremely guilty of this today.
Lancia realized that this wouldn’t be enough for the Thesis. That’s why they dumped millions of dollars into developing a bespoke platform that would only be used by the Thesis and no other car. Whereas the previous Lancia luxury sedan, the Kappa, shared some DNA with the Alfa Romeo 166,while the Thesis used a unique platform within the Fiat group, it still relied on Fiat-group engines and shared components where it made sense.
This made the Thesis truly unique, and as one owner told me, it also means that it’s very expensive to maintain and repair drivetrain components. Lancia did come to its senses for the powertrains, however, as those were shared with other models in the Fiat stable. There were various five-cylinder diesel and gasoline units, as well as two petrol V6 options from Alfa Romeo’s 24-valve ‘Busso’ V6 family (a 3.0 and a 3.2) that shared a lot with the legendary Alfa Romeo Busso engine.
Not Quite The Intended Runaway Success
Despite an investment reported at around €405 million and an optimistic board of directors, the Lancia Thesis simply didn’t catch on. Even with its cheaper base price and brave design, it didn’t really stand a chance against the Germans, or even the Japanese.
For one, early models struggled with performance, with the early diesel engine in particular being seriously underpowered for such a massive and heavy car. t was sold primarily in left-hand-drive markets, which limited its reach in countries like the UK, meaning some foreign markets couldn’t enjoy a piece of the pie.
Lancia had forecasted sales figures of about 13,000 models per year when the Thesis was first released, but that was some pretty intense optimism. Instead, Lancia only managed to shift 16,000 Thesises during the entire production run from 2001 to 2009, with sales beginning in 2002.
The Last Proper Lancia Sedan
Very few people realized it at the time, but this would be the last proper Lancia sedan, or at least the last one to have so much involvement from the automaker. After the Thesis and towards the end of the 2000s, Fiat decided that Lancia was simply not worth caring about anymore. Later Lancias leaned heavily on Fiat-group platforms and components, and the rest of Lancia’s lineup was taken up by rebadged Chryslers. To further the confusion, in the UK, Lancia’s Fiat-based models would also be sold as Chryslers.
The Thesis is definitely a curious piece of automotive history, and if things had panned out differently for Lancia, it could have become an absolute tour de force in the luxury car world. Maybe the 2020s will finally give way to a Lancia redemption arc… as soon as the brand proves it can build something truly distinct again — even if today’s models share Stellantis underpinnings with cars like the Peugeot 208.