Lancia Thema
Lancia Thema was a model of Italian automobile manufacturer Lancia.
The 1985 Lancia Thema was one of four cars in the mid-1980s which used the Type Four chassis, the others were Alfa Romeo 164, Fiat Croma and Saab 9000.
Lancia Thema was one of the most spacious and comfortable European cars. Its 2.0 four-cylinder and 2.5 V6 engines were refined and gave good performance, but suffered from all sorts of problems as did the rest of the mechanicals. Build quality was also doubtful. These problems did nothing to help the Thema's reputation from being a naff Italian executive car which lost its value at an alarming rate.
The ultimate Lancia Thema was version 8.32, which used a 3.6 V8 Ferrari engine capable of more than 140mph. It had fantastic performance and excellent refinement to be enjoyed while sitting in a luxurious wood-and-leather interior, but with a £40,000+ price tag and being left hand drive only, just a handful were sold in Britain. It was even a rare site on Italian roads.
The Lancia Thema survived until 1994, when the marque withdrew from right hand drive markets (including Britain) because of a fall in popularity. But Lancia continued to be one of the most popular manufacturers on the Italian market and the Thema's replacement, Lancia Kappa, helped the marque sell its products well. It seems possible that Lancia may start to import to Britain again.
