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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 cars was normal aspirated and a very popular turbo version was refined and with very good performance. These engines originated from the Lampredi design very widely used by Fiat Group. Aurelio Lampredi was a former Ferrari engine designer. The earlier car was also delivered with a lacy 2.8 V6 engines developed in cooperation with the French PSA group and Volvo. The PSA engine was in 1992 replaced with a 3,0 L V6 Alfa Romeo engine, by many regarded as the best V6 engines ever made. The Thema reestabliched Lancia as a high quality luxury producer after the problems the Marque experienced with the earlier Lancia Beta in the 70's. As a result of the Fiat group selling of car factory to Russia, they made barter deals getting corrousious steel in return insteda of cash. The corrousious steel went into many of the Fiat products in the 70's and 80's and nearly ruined a good brand. Build quality was higher than the Fiat Croma and at par with SAAB 9000. The Thema had galvanized chassis. Many customers experienced a bad sales organisation in most markets and the secondhand value suffered.
The car was also delivered as a beautiful Station Wagon (SW) designed by Pininfarina. The LX versions had same luxury equipment as the top of the range car Thema 8.32.
The ultimate Lancia Thema was version 8.32, used a 3.0 L V8 Ferrari 205 bhp (153 kW) engine capable of more than 140 mph (234 km/h). It had fantastic performance ( though the Turbo versions was quicker from 0 to 100 km/h) 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.
Today the 8.32 -- and to lesser extent the Alfa engined V6 -- are real Classics.
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