Lanicas have always been an interesting car brand. The rally-dominating Fulvia, Stratos HF, and Delta HF, made Lancia a brand to envy. But its car’s ability to rust while still in the showroom made Lancias a nightmare to own.

Lancia retreated back to its home market in Italy, and paid its penance by staying out of most other major markets for more than a decade (they haven’t been sold officially in the U.S. since 1982.) Now it looks like Lancia got it’s act together, and it is back to building cars with seriously sexy looks and even decent quality. In fact, its parent company Fiat was ready to send Lancia back out into the world with a reintroduction to the U.K. market in 2009. But the current economic climate has changed all that.

“Given the current global economic crisis, Fiat Auto has taken the decision to delay the reintroduction of the Lancia brand in right-hand-drive markets beyond 2009,” said Fiat in a statement. “Right now it would be ill-advised to commit to a date on any relaunch of Lancia in Britain.”

If Lancia was a success in the U.K., maybe Fiat would have even expanded the line to piggyback the cars on some ships with U.S.-bound Alfa Romeos. But that’s all a pipe dream considering that economic conditions have even stopped rumors of Alfa’s plans in the U.S. But we can still dream…

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