Lancia Lybra to become Chinese?

An unknown and very small Chinese carmaker, Zhong Tai, surprised everybody last week by declaring that it will produce the Lancia Lybra. The company has acquired the manufacturing tools and the intellectual property rights for the Lancia from Fiat. The Chinese Lybra will enable Zhong Tai to produce 50,000 car this year compared to 11,000 last year. Up until now the Chinese carmaker has been producing a Daihatsu Terios clone.

The Lancia Lybra was a saloon sold by Lancia between 1999 and 2006. Despite some good qualities and a magical five-cylinder engine, the car never met sales expectations and in a sense symbolises the Lancia’s collapse.

What does this mean for Fiat? The Italian carmaker is struggling with its joint venture Nanjing Fiat. Despite the announcement of a £196 million/€290 million/$400 million investment in June, Fiat is also involved in negotiations with other Chinese carmakers. According to rumours, Fiat has signed a deal with Chery to produce engines. Although the latter already produces Alfa Romeo cars, it has no further capacity to take on further Fiat production. By selling the unsuccessful Lybra to Zhong Tai, Fiat can make some money from the car and potentially develop a partnership with a smaller partner, who will perhaps be easier to deal with than Nanjing.