reuters article off of autonewseurope.com

[ryan]

New models, markets fire up Lancia sales

Reuters / September 12, 2005

FRANKFURT -- Fiat's luxury Lancia brand expects sales to rise 60 percent over the next three years thanks to three new models and a push to boost business across Europe, brand manager Antonio Baravalle told Reuters on Monday.

Lancia's future looked bleak when Fiat was sputtering through its recent financial crisis, but a new business plan presented in August puts the 99-year-old brand firmly on the road with heavy investments heading its way.

"Lancia is back," Baravalle said in an interview.

"After a period when we mainly focused on two models, we took a strong decision to go back and invest in the brand, a strategy which was not so clear last year. With the right investment, we can easily grow to 200,000 sales a year," he added.

Lancia expects to sell 125,000 cars in 2005, almost all of them either its Ypsilon city car or the Musa, a luxury version of the Fiat Idea mini-multi-purpose vehicle which has already met this year's sales target.

Baravalle said there were no plans to pull Lancia's larger models, the Phedra and Thesis, off the production line but said there were discussions about what to do with them in the future.

In the next two years, Lancia plans to add an estate-sized car that would draw on its historic Delta model, a sports utility vehicle and a niche car based on the Fulvia coupe concept.

Lancia's models all draw on engineering and development from elsewhere in Fiat Auto, allowing the unit to save on costs while offering very different cars from Alfa Romeo's sporty roadsters or Fiat's mass market models.

Despite the savings and the fact that about half of Lancia's cars sell with all the trimmings and gadgets that swell profit margins, Baravalle did not expect to break even for a few years until the next wave of investments is finished.

MOVING AWAY FROM HOME

More than three-quarters of Lancias are now sold in Italy, and Baravalle plans to spend heavily to set up better business structures in Germany, Spain, France and Belgium to increase foreign sales to about 35 percent.

"Money is short, so our priority is to head to the markets where the brand has potential to grow immediately," he said.

Baravalle said Lancia was considering introducing a right-hand drive version of the Delta, the first in about 40 years, allowing the brand to profit from fond memories of old Lancias in Australia, Japan and Britain. Other models may follow.

Lancia splashed back onto the Italian scene in 2003 with the Ypsilon, which was an immediate hit with "young and trendies", buyers who wanted a small but stylish car.

With a small budget, Lancia spurned much traditional advertising and instead left love notes signed "Y" on people's windscreens to pique their curiosity, sold the car next to luxury clothes in department stores and launched a "United Against Ugliness" campaign against other small cars.

"We'll continue our 'guerrilla marketing'," Baravalle said. "We'll never have the ad power of main brands, and anyway this approach -- shock tactics and co-branding-- appeals to our main market, the youth."

[Alex]

I haven´t heard such good news long ago....

I pray to god that the will build the Fulvia - EXACTLY AS SHOWN AT FRANKFURT IN 2003!!!!!

Viva Lancia
Alex

[ryan]

Nice that we even get daimlerchrysler.com pushing for Lancia success.