The Lancia Thema at 40 by Andrew Roberts

“I’ve always liked Lancia because my grandfather drove a Beta that the whole family loved and I’ve long admired the Thema. It was hard to find one in the UK, so I imported mine from a dealer in the Netherlands, which was neither complicated nor expensive. Mine is a V6 with the PRV engine. I’m not sure why Lancia elected to use that, but I love it. It is not especially fast, but it has bags of torque, is very pleasant to drive, and is more economical than you might expect. I know Volvo owners hate the PRV, but it really works well in this car.”

Dickie Braithwaite is the proud owner of a Thema, a car that was crucial to Lancia’s success. The press announcement occurred in May 1984, with the first public display at the Turin Motor Show. It was one of the ‘Tipo 4’ executive cars; the other three were the Fiat Croma, Saab 9000 and Alfa Romeo 164.

The interest in an extremely handsome front-wheel-drive saloon was immense, and the Thema looked set to steal conquest sales from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo. However, the UK concessionaires had two principal challenges. Firstly, no large Lancia saloon had made serious inroads into the prestige car market. In the 1960s, the Flaminia Berlina was an exotic machine that cost more than a Jaguar Mk. X and the smaller Flavia was an expensive proposition for all but the select few who could afford fine Italian cars.

Many British motorists similarly regarded the 2000 Berlina of the 1970s as more unattainable than the Rover P6 or Triumph 2.5 PI Mk. II, while its Gamma replacement remains a much-underrated car. If the Thema were to become a family sight on the driveways of Weybridge, it would have to convince Rover SD1 and Ford Granada Ghia drivers of its merits.

And, as Autocar put it, “the exact date when things started to wrong, publicly, was the Wednesday after Easter, in April 1980”. Much has been written about the ‘Lancia Rust Scandal’, but the news that the Fiat parent company was re-purchasing hundreds of corroded Betas caused immense damage to the marque’s image. In 1978, Lancia sold circa 12,000 cars in the UK. Five years later, the figure was 3,461.

The Thema was vital in rebuilding Lancia’s image in the UK, with sales commencing in 1985. The concessionaire planned to import only 500 in the first year, telling the press, “A hundred of them will go to Lancia enthusiasts; the remaining 400 models will have to be conquest sales”.

Motor praised the i.e. Turbo’s performance, accommodation, transmission, and ride but thought its “instantly forgettable styling may not be an asset in Britain, where the marque is still trying to establish a positive identity”. Enthusiasts preferred to describe the Thema as “low key”. Autocar was more positive, saying, “Without doubt, Lancia stands to win over new customers with the Thema”.

When production ended in 1994, and Dicky observes of the Thema:

“I do think they’re undervalued here; they have a real following in Italy and are starting to appreciate, especially the Turbo versions, but they came when Lancia already had a bad reputation here, so they were rather overlooked in favour of the other Type 4 cars like the Saab 9000 and Alfa Romeo 164.”

And after watching this sales film, who could resist the lure of the Thema?

With thanks to Dicky Braithwaite