Well, we all know it's not going to be directly replaced, though the Croma will take up some of the slack. But I was asked by a colleague recently whether the Lybra was out of production yet, and I wasn't able to answer one way or the other. Had a chat to some contacts within Fiat and they weren't able to tell me either...
Trouble is, it appears on some of the Lancia national websites, including the Italian one - but not on others, importantly France and Germany. And it isn't obvious on the Italian one, the only cars that appear on the frontpage are the Ypsilon, Musa, Thesis and Phedra - you need to go to select a model before you find any mention of the Lybra.
The closest info I can find to this effect is some news articles from a few years ago saying that it was due to run out to replacement in September 2005, but the articles also said that it was to be replaced by an Epsilon-platformed Croma derivative which clearly isn't going to happen - so for all I know it may be out of production already. That's the nature of changing Fiat decisions in the past few years.
It's being built at Mirafiori on, as far as I can tell, a separate line to anything else (formerly used to also assemble the Marea), which must make it spectacularly uneconomic, especially considering the sales volumes these days. One assumes that they'd be willing to close it as soon as they could, but might have to deal with unions or model timescale?
Would very much appreciate if someone could confirm/deny one way or the other, and this is me being greedy, if anyone knows approximately what month it went out of production (if it has already done so); alternatively, if it's still being built, when it is due to be phased out. Many thanks in advance for your help...
Lybra still in production?
-
Edward
Re: Lybra still in production?
Today, I read on a web site of a Dutch newspaper that Lancia will cease production of the Lybra without a replacement this month.
Regards, Edward
Regards, Edward
-
philip
Re: Lybra still in production?
on an Italian website I read that production was ceasing 29/30 April...
-
Mark Tobin
Re: Lybra still in production?
The Lybra is ceasing production this month. Shame theres no replacement. But the Lybra never really filled its potential, more Lancia's fault than the car.
-
Alessandro Executive
Re: Lybra still in production?
hi
my name is Alessandro, I live in Florence and I own a Lybra 2.4 JTD Executive with 85000km.
really a fantastic car!
Lancia has stopped the production of Lybra but FIAT has started the Croma production:
maybe you don't know that all the interior of the FIAT Croma was developed for the New Lybra.
look at this
http://www.italiaspeed.com/2005/motor_s ... ma_104.jpg
it is very very similar to my Libra executive.......
bye
my name is Alessandro, I live in Florence and I own a Lybra 2.4 JTD Executive with 85000km.
really a fantastic car!
Lancia has stopped the production of Lybra but FIAT has started the Croma production:
maybe you don't know that all the interior of the FIAT Croma was developed for the New Lybra.
look at this
http://www.italiaspeed.com/2005/motor_s ... ma_104.jpg
it is very very similar to my Libra executive.......
bye
-
Mattia LYBRA2.0BERLINA
Re: Lybra still in production?
I think it was no ones fault that the Lybra did´nt achieve what it had to achieve... I think it´s a normal result of a company choosing the wrong directions for a while...like all the others do.
Shant F, did not know I could meet you here...I want to thank you honoustly for the honour you brought to the Lybra (2pages). I still read it, some times ones a week!!
Mattia
Shant F, did not know I could meet you here...I want to thank you honoustly for the honour you brought to the Lybra (2pages). I still read it, some times ones a week!!
Mattia
-
Shant F
Re: Lybra still in production?
G'day Mattia!
Glad you enjoyed the article. Edd (italiaspeed's editor) actually mentioned to me in the course of writing that piece that almost all of the Lybra owners he's spoken to are exceptionally happy with their cars - really good value and loaded with kit, and extremely reliable too. Just a shame it was never given any attention by Fiat, though it's not hard to understand why if you look at the sales figures (mind you, could be a bit of chicken and egg - no facelift - thing happening here):
Lancia sales across Europe (including Italy), Jan-Aug 2005:
Total: 83,841 units.
Ypsilon: 50,703
Musa = 24,575
Lybra = 3,135
Thesis = 1,097
Phedra = 4,331
On a side note, it's well-known that Lancia lose money on every Thesis they sell, but given that sales are down 50% on even last year, the figure must be a truly insane amount of money...
Glad you enjoyed the article. Edd (italiaspeed's editor) actually mentioned to me in the course of writing that piece that almost all of the Lybra owners he's spoken to are exceptionally happy with their cars - really good value and loaded with kit, and extremely reliable too. Just a shame it was never given any attention by Fiat, though it's not hard to understand why if you look at the sales figures (mind you, could be a bit of chicken and egg - no facelift - thing happening here):
Lancia sales across Europe (including Italy), Jan-Aug 2005:
Total: 83,841 units.
Ypsilon: 50,703
Musa = 24,575
Lybra = 3,135
Thesis = 1,097
Phedra = 4,331
On a side note, it's well-known that Lancia lose money on every Thesis they sell, but given that sales are down 50% on even last year, the figure must be a truly insane amount of money...
-
Mattia LYBRA2.0BERLINA
Re: Lybra still in production?
But Fiat is recovering right know giving Lancia the tools they need to rise again.. My question is, what is the strategy they are planning right now concidering the Thesis, with the terrible status it has every day since it has been launched.
What do you know and what do you think, will there be a next mid-sized Mercedes C oponent with a Lancia badge and with the size of a 159. When Fiat will conclude everthing is going well with it´s luxury brand what will happen!?
Mattia Mariani (NL)
What do you know and what do you think, will there be a next mid-sized Mercedes C oponent with a Lancia badge and with the size of a 159. When Fiat will conclude everthing is going well with it´s luxury brand what will happen!?
Mattia Mariani (NL)
-
Shant F
Re: Lybra still in production?
Ok, here are some rumours and facts to come from the factory. What is known is that Lancia is undertaking a massive restructuring of its dealer network outside Italy, pulling its operations apart from those of Fiat and basically setting up a small management team in each country. Next on the list for this treatment are Germany, Belgium, Greece and Spain (someone told me a couple of years ago that the number of Lancia dealers in Spain was down to only a dozen!). This operation has been undertaken in France already with a consequent 60% rise in year-on-year sales so far in 2005. The other major aim of this is to reduce Lancia's dependence on Italy - down to 65% of total sales by 2010, rather than the present 79%. Also key to this is the three new models to be introduced over the next 2-3 years, which are planned to push Lancia's production numbers up to the 200,000 mark per year.
You probably know about the Lancia version of the Sedici. Looks likely to be launched at Geneva next year and the plan is for Suzuki to build 10,000 of them each year, versus 20,000 Fiat versions and 60,000 for themselves. I'm no fan of the concept and I think it's unnecessary but it wouldn't be too smart to protest too loudly against the generally pro-Lancia management.
There will be no direct Lybra replacement as such. Instead, the new Delta will grow a bit to occupy that role. It will be roughly the size of the current Mazda3 (a bit bigger than the current C-segment, maybe just over 4.4m long) and the design will, although being a five-door, follow the essentials of shooting break philosophy - a modern-day HPE, effectively. Fiat has finally worked out what the rest of us have known since 1986, that having Lancia and Alfa models in the same price/size brackets is a licence to lose money. The new Delta will be a bit of a cross-segment car, like a Skoda Octavia, although closer to C-segment than D- (as the Skoda is).
The other good news is that Lancia wants to build the Fulvia concept, Fiat wants to give it the green light, just the thorny issue of money holding them back (as ever). Latest idea is to re-engineer the concept around the 199 platform. That said the info I have on that is not the most recent, so probably best to label the Fulvia as a 'work in progress'.
No strategy regarding the Thesis and Phedra other than to keep them in production for the foreseeable future. I guess that the next Phedra will once again be a rebadged C80lysse so that shouldn't cost a huge amount of money to develop. The Thesis is another matter. I would guess that they've long since written off any development costs, which were immense. On the other hand, it's debatable whether they actually lose money on building the car itself as the Thesis line is one of those at Mirafiori that comes to a stop most often and the workers are paid out of the joint government-Fiat (but mainly government) account to lay them off. In other words, supply is (most probably) roughly in line with demand. But a replacement for the Thesis? Short answer is, there aren't any plans at the moment. There are all sorts of possibilities - the current platform is pretty sophisticated, so maybe a major reskin would suffice - but basically, I severely doubt whether any of them would make any money, or even break even. What I can categorically say is that I know of no plans whatsoever for a new Thesis, new Thema, or anything similar.
You probably know about the Lancia version of the Sedici. Looks likely to be launched at Geneva next year and the plan is for Suzuki to build 10,000 of them each year, versus 20,000 Fiat versions and 60,000 for themselves. I'm no fan of the concept and I think it's unnecessary but it wouldn't be too smart to protest too loudly against the generally pro-Lancia management.
There will be no direct Lybra replacement as such. Instead, the new Delta will grow a bit to occupy that role. It will be roughly the size of the current Mazda3 (a bit bigger than the current C-segment, maybe just over 4.4m long) and the design will, although being a five-door, follow the essentials of shooting break philosophy - a modern-day HPE, effectively. Fiat has finally worked out what the rest of us have known since 1986, that having Lancia and Alfa models in the same price/size brackets is a licence to lose money. The new Delta will be a bit of a cross-segment car, like a Skoda Octavia, although closer to C-segment than D- (as the Skoda is).
The other good news is that Lancia wants to build the Fulvia concept, Fiat wants to give it the green light, just the thorny issue of money holding them back (as ever). Latest idea is to re-engineer the concept around the 199 platform. That said the info I have on that is not the most recent, so probably best to label the Fulvia as a 'work in progress'.
No strategy regarding the Thesis and Phedra other than to keep them in production for the foreseeable future. I guess that the next Phedra will once again be a rebadged C80lysse so that shouldn't cost a huge amount of money to develop. The Thesis is another matter. I would guess that they've long since written off any development costs, which were immense. On the other hand, it's debatable whether they actually lose money on building the car itself as the Thesis line is one of those at Mirafiori that comes to a stop most often and the workers are paid out of the joint government-Fiat (but mainly government) account to lay them off. In other words, supply is (most probably) roughly in line with demand. But a replacement for the Thesis? Short answer is, there aren't any plans at the moment. There are all sorts of possibilities - the current platform is pretty sophisticated, so maybe a major reskin would suffice - but basically, I severely doubt whether any of them would make any money, or even break even. What I can categorically say is that I know of no plans whatsoever for a new Thesis, new Thema, or anything similar.