Monday, January 11, 2010
Amidst the confusing Chrysler/Maserati/Jeep/Fiat/Dodge/Ferrari display at Detroit, a Lancia hatchback stood out. It's not every day that a Lancia gets major attention at a U.S. auto show, but the reason this stood out was because of blatant badge engineering. As you get close to this automobile, you notice the lack of the middle Lancia strike of chrome down the grille and Chrysler logos on the wheels instead of Lancia. What...?
Apparently this is the worst instance of badge engineering in today's world. Even the wheels of this car are the same as the Lancia's wheels, with stupid plastic Chrysler logos added everywhere. This car, like Chrysler's stand at NAIAS, make no sense for the Italian-owned company. If added to the Chrysler lineup, it would be basically a curvy, non-Chrysler-like, technologically obsolete compact. The people at the Chrysler stand didn't even seem to like the car, which is rare for PR types. When asked about the car they couldn't give much info, seeming like they didn't know much about it themselves. The car doesn't even have a name, but it's likely that, if it is produced as a Chrysler, it would be called the Chrysler Delta.
Though it definitely doesn't look bad, this car won't fit in anywhere in the Chrysler range unless they start importing Lancia models by the millions, which nobody currently sees happening. We guess that when you have no plans to unveil much at NAIAS but you have to show up, you throw some leftover badges on an Italian hatch and put it in with your psycho, messed-up multi-brand display. Now how about that Dodge Viper ACR-X...
