Before you reach for the CComment section, let’s acknowledge that there should be an asterisk on this title – this is Lancia’s last successful luxury liner. There were several subsequent attempts at re-creating the Thema, even down to re-using the name (on a Chrysler 300, of all things), but to no avail. Although it was born at a time when the future of the marque was already looking bleak, only the original Type 834 Thema made its maker any money. Against all odds.
In the early ‘80s, the Lancia badge had already lost quite a bit of its lustre. Having been taken over by Fiat in 1969, the marque had a turbulent decade – there were some undeniable hits, especially in motorsports, but several notable misses also. These included the Beta, which had significant quality control issues, but the most massive mistake had been the Gamma.
There were a multitude of problems with the Gamma. The saloon’s styling was peculiar, to say the least, and the same quality control issues that plagued the Beta also appeared on its bigger stablemate. But the cardinal sin was the drivetrain, which was subject to an impressive list of failure points. And sooner or later, the big 2.5 litre flat-4 would fail – the only question was how, and whether it would completely self-destroy in the process. After eight miserable years, Lancia had only sold about 15,000 saloons and just under 7000 coupés.
But Fiat weren’t about to throw in the towel. Lancia was their ticket to the lucrative sports and prestige markets. Back to the drawing board, then, but with a key difference: in order to minimize development costs, Fiat devised their new “Tipo 4” flagship by teamed up with Alfa Romeo (then still independent) and, intriguingly, Saab. Thus four new large cars were born: the Alfa Romeo 164, the Saab 9000, the Fiat Croma and the Lancia Thema.
The Alfa was launched a couple of years after the others, which all debuted in 1984-85. Saab emphasized comfort and safety over all other considerations, so their car was heavier and featured a somewhat less sophisticated suspension, i.e. a rear beam axle. The Fiat/Lancia duo, on the other hand, were lighter and had MacPherson struts both front and rear, as well as some pretty potent engine options.
The base spec Thema had a 120hp 2-litre version of the Fiat 1600 Lampredi DOHC engine (a few dozen cars even had the 1600 itself). Next was the same engine, but with a turbocharger and 165hp on tap. Above that came the 6V, which featured the 2.8 litre PRV 6-cyl. – but only 150hp. There was of course a turbo-Diesel, which had a 2.4 litre 100hp engine that proved quite popular in Lancia’s two most important markets – namely, Italy and France.
But way above everything else was the legendary (and super-luxurious) 8.32, packing the Ferrari Mondial’s 2.9 litre V8, tamed down to a still-respectable 215hp. It arrived in 1986, along with two new Thema body variants: the wagon and the stretch limo. The latter was only produced for a couple of years and only convinced a few dozen buyers, but the wagon had more success.
In the summer of 1988, Lancia gave the Thema a facelift, which included a new grille and thinner headlamps. But the best was for the engine bay: the 2-litre 4-cyl. was given a thorough makeover and now featured 16 valves. The turbocharged version, i.e. our featured car, now churned out 185hp and could reach 225kph – BMW-level performance.
The interior was not quite up to German standards in terms of quality, but Lancia had come a long way from the dark days of the Gamma. And what the Thema lacked in finish, it made up in ambiance.
The rear seats were also praised for their generous legroom, unimpeded by the transmission hump that many of the Thema’s rivals still had. Said rivals would have included the Opel Senator, the Ford Scorpio, the Peugeot 605, the Mercedes W124, the Audi 100, the Volvo 740, the Toyota Camry or the Rover 820. I wish I could have found detailed price lists for certain European markets in 1989-1990, but alas the info is not out there. No table for this post, then? Well, initially, that was the case, but CC’s Berlin Ccorrespondent, Hannes69117, gave us a substantial list of Thema rivals and pricing info for 1989. Hot dog!
I had to limit the list to 12, otherwise the table would become too unwieldy. Chucked out the Fiat Croma, the Alfa 164 and the Saab 9000 (i.e., the Thema’s sister cars), but they would rightly belong in there. The Thema Turbo stands out as the car with the smallest engine, yet the highest power rating. It wasn’t the prettiest, the safest nor the best quality executive Eurosled of the late ’80s, but it could sure haul its big square ass around the autostrada like a champ.
Lancia gave the Thema one last slight facelift for 1992; the Ferrari-powered 8.32 was deleted from the range, but the 2-litre turbo’s output was upped to 201hp and the PRV was replaced by Alfa Romeo’s 3-litre Busso V6. Sales carried on pretty strongly until the Kappa took over in late 1994.
In ten years, over 370k units of the Thema were made, making it the best-selling big Lancia ever made. Its successor barely topped 100,000 units and subsequent efforts, such as the Thesis, were downright bombs.
And so Fiat lost all confidence in Lancia, turning it into a meaningless zombie sub-brand manufacturing small hatchbacks for the domestic market. This superbly-preserved Thema can take us back to a time when the marque of the spear could still hit a bull’s eye – and in the executive category, no less.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1988 Lancia Thema 8.32 – Discretion, Subtlety, And A Ferrari V8, by Roger Carr
CC For Sale: 1987 Lancia Thema 8.32 – A Golden Opportunity By The Golden Gate?, by William Stopford
Dear Tatra,
thank you for a very informative post about a vehicle that I genuinely cherish.
As it happens, I can provide some info on pricing in Germany for the Lancia Thema turbo 16V i.e. (catalyzed version with 181 PS ) and the competitors you mentioned in the article. My Source is the “ADAC Special Auto 90 which was published on august 10th 1989.
Lancia Thema turbo 16 V i.e. 43.900 DM
Opel Senator 3.0 i (156 PS) 45.500 DM
Ford Scorpio GL 2.9 ( 145 PS) 39.615 DM
Mercedes 260E (160 PS) 51.129 DM
Mercedes 300E (180 PS) 55.746 DM
Audi 100 turbo (165 PS) 50.320 DM
Audi 200 turbo (165 PS) 59.045 DM
Toyota Camry GX V6 (161 PS) 38.380 DM
Volvo 740 GLT 16V (155 PS) 42.700 DM
Volvo 740 Turbo (155 PS) 47.900 DM
Rover 827Si (169 PS) 41.500 DM
BMW 525i (170 PS) 48.900 DM
BMW 530i (188 PS) 56.200 DM
Citroen XM V6 (167 PS) 55.000 DM
Renault 25 TX V6 (150 PS) 38.900 DM
Saab 9000 Turbo 16 (163 PS) 58.900 DM
VW Passat GT synchro G60 (160 PS) 43.600 DM
Nissan Maxima 3.0i (170 PS) 41.995 DM
Alfa Romeo 75 3.0 V6 (185 PS) 36.800 DM
Alfa Romeo 164 3.0 V6 (184 PS) 46.600 DM
Fiat Croma Turbo i.e. Super (150 PS) 39.290 DM
The Peugeot 605 wasn’t yet on the market while the venerable 505 had a 115 hp engine as the top choice and was therefore no match for the Thema turbo i.e.
All in all the Lancia Thema Turbo 16V was an exremely competitive offering. None of the rivals could match its 0-100 (factory) time of 7.0. seconds.
Wow! Now that’s what I call a smorgasbord — well beyond a table at this point! Thank you so much for all this, Hannes. I will make the comparison table and add it to the post ASAP.
let me know if you need any more data – I got quite the archive 🙂
You know, I might take you up on that generous offer!
Just updated the post with the table — a million thanks again, Hannes.
There was a version of the Peugeot 505 for the North American market called the Turbo S, it was a 2.2 engine with 180 hp and a top speed of 131 mph.
All of the Type 4 cars save the Alfa 164 have always looked alike to me, even though from what I understand few parts are interchangeable.
Stellantis has plans to increase Lancia’s lineup and reach (to a few other European countries), but they have their plate full and I’ll believe it when I see it. The Ypsilon is surprisingly popular in Italy, outselling most or all B-segment cars there. It’s a looker, and colorful inside and out. I could see myself driving one.
The outgoing 3rd-gen Ypsilon not only outsold all B-segment cars in Italy, it even outsold all Alfa Romeos worldwide year over year, despite only being sold in Italy. No wonder FCA (now Stellantis) was keeping the marque on life-support.
Shortly after the formation of Stellantis, they announced all their combined marques would be fully supported for a decade, allowing them to make a case for their continued survival beyond that. We’ll see if Lancia can pull it off…
It has to be a little demoralizing for Lancia to realize that these (and the Delta) were so successful despite their rather unspectacular and quite anodyne styling.
As far as the four offerings of the venture are concerned I very much like the Alfa and Saab (both of which are styled with more flair), rate the Thema as slightly above average overall, but the Fiat entry does nothing for me. It was though certainly an interesting (and I believe for all parties) successful endeavor. I don’t quite know how Saab got invited to the Italian party, perhaps a large bottle of Aquavit was involved.
Honestly though, while not ugly, the exterior is about as exciting as a good leather briefcase (a squared-off one, not bag style), the inside follows suit but does come across as fairly impeccably tailored, not unlike or perhaps a slight notch better than BMW and Audi of the era. In any case, a fine place to spend a transcontinental trip’s worth of time.
Perhaps most impressive is just seeing an as-new 36 year old (Italian) car that while of a fairly high specification, wasn’t particularly overwhelming or renowned while actually on sale.
Overall, I quite like it, and can completely envision a Japanese owner wearing a good suit driving this around Tokyo, even on a Sunday morning. I just don’t know if I’d part with my own money for it instead of holding out / saving up for an 8.32 (but would surely have a go if offered!)
” I don’t quite know how Saab got invited to the Italian party, …”
The connection between Fiat and SAAB dates back to the 1970s, when Fiat sold the mini-car Autobianchi A112 through Saab dealers in the Nordic countries.
A closer cooperation began around 1978. One result was the joint Lancia Delta / SAAB 600 model.
A close friend bought an early Turbo, secondhand in the early 90s. It was cheap, these cars were plentiful and almost banger money when they were 8 – 10 years old.
With two other guys we drove from the Netherlands to Beaulieu (UK) with camping gear, to visit the huge yearly autojumble (we were all classic car fan / owners). The Lancia did well, enough power for the hilly motorways fully loaden.
But I have to say the car did not make much of an impression to me. Too bland on the outside, too plasticy on the inside. Also, it was a bit hard on the springs. Would have liked it to be more softer, more comfortable. My friend did like it though, he did follow up with a Mk2 version which he also owned for a couple of years.
Fun fact about the Tipo Quattro cars’ independent rear suspension (aside from the Saab): it’s nearly identical with that of the Lancia Beta, an elegantly simple multilink setup with coilover struts, long parallel transverse links on each side (identical parts to those of the Beta), trailing links, and an anti-roll bar — all mounted to the rear hub carriers in way that slightly changes camber and toe with suspension travel, inducing a slight passive rear-steering effect.
The Beta version was a bit cleverer in mounting the anti-roll bar to the floorpan on hinges, so its ends could serve double-duty as the trailing links. The Type 4s changed that to separate trailing links coupled with an anti-roll bar, a setup prolly identical in mechanical function but cheaper to make and easier to service and tune the suspension by swapping in different thicknesses of anti-roll bar.
It’s a bit baffling that Lancia never bothered to patent this design, which other manufacturers later copied.