What Lancia can learn from this Dialogos

The Lancia model range looked extremely solid at the time of the Dialogos introduction. All models were tastefully designed and could count on a friendly acceptance of the right audience: connoisseurs who appreciated the added value of the Italian charm. For example, the stubborn Ypsilon was the nicest design statement in the compact class, and the Zeta in the MPV segment. The years had started to count for the Delta and Dedra, but they were still stylish exceptions in their segment. Just like the eye- and ear-pleasing Kappa with its pleasantly rumbling five-cylinder engines.

The Lancia Dialogos had rear doors that you see more often on study models, but which rarely make it to production.

Dialogos seemed to succeed Kappa

Then suddenly there was the Dialogos, which, with its size and stature, seemed destined to succeed the Kappa in the long term. That was quite a bit. Did Lancia really feel the need to exchange modest chic for exuberant luxury? The then chief designer of the brand, the American Peter Robinson, saw it differently; he had to change Lancia’s image from sporty to luxurious. This was not his own idea, but the Dialogos was the way he chose to carry out the stable orders of mother Fiat.

Lancia even more on the luxury tour

The Italians envisioned a new division of roles, with Alfa Romeo being put in the sporty corner and Lancia in the luxurious one. This meant that Lancia’s traditionally rock-solid bond with rallying was cut. A huge mistake, because the World Rally Championship really appealed to the imagination. Lancia stood on the podium for decades, while the Fulvia HF, Rallye 037, Stratos and Delta Integrale achieved legendary status from their victories.

Lancia therefore fully committed to unbridled luxury. Peter Robinson repeated some characteristic external features of classic Lancias with the Dialogos and argued that the absence of chrome edges and other glitz & glamor would lead to a subdued appearance. True, but the exterior itself was already extremely exuberant. Simplicity and visual tranquility were the starting points in the car. Luxurious functions were there, but would come into effect automatically. The helpful car, the designer called it. The truly tangible luxury was therefore limited to the essence: beautiful materials, modeled in pleasant shapes. A strange detail was the steering column, which could be locked to the left or right side as desired. Anyone who liked the Dialogos in 1998 could report to the Lancia dealer four years later for its production-ready elaboration: the equally striking Thesis. Which certainly did not become the luxurious success that Lancia had in mind.