Originally Posted by GroupB

I'm glad you brought that up. I'm a huge Lancia fan, have owned several Betas, etc., but the Thema was a badge-engineered job, with very little in the way of real improvement over say, a Chroma - and CERTAINLY less money was put into the Thema line (including the 8.32) than into the 164 Alfa.

This may not be the best way to save Lancia, but Lancia's been limping along for decades, and Chrysler's reputation can hardly be worse than Lancia's in the mind of the typical, non-car-fan buyer who snaps up Camrys and Accords.

This might be good for both Lancia and Chrysler - and I'm leaning towards optimism. Remember: it wasn't that long ago that American Motors was going to ruin Jeep, then Chrysler was going to ruin Jeep, then Mercedes was going to ruin Jeep, etc. Jeep has grown, despite rough patches and some weak products now and then. The first batch of Chrysler Lancias will be weaksauce, but Lancia will have more time and budget on the next batch ... those will be the cars, in 2-3 years, that will determine if the brand lives or dies. Not these.