I’ve made no secret that however good and however bad they can be, I’m extremely passionate about Italian cars. So when I learn that Lancia is to become an Italy-only brand, that angers me a little bit. Sergio Marchionne has been playing about with the Fiat Group again and has announced that Lancia are to stop selling cars around the world and will now be exclusive to Italy. Genius, Sergio. But then, to be fair, Lancias stopped being any good over ten years ago. Being a staunch Fiat fan, the fact that Lancias have been largely Fiat based since the 1970s hasn’t bothered me. I’m a big fan of the Delta and Prisma (Strada based), Y10 (mixture of Uno and Panda), the Beta and Monte Carlo used Fiat oily bits and latterly Nuova Delta and Dedra were based upon Tipo underpinnings. But I can’t pretend to like the current range or any of its immediate predecessors. Certainly there’s nothing in the current range that captures that certain something that the Fulvias, Flavias, Appias and Aurelias had by the bucket load. These were luxurious cars with a sporting edge.

But now, with the exception of Ypsilon and Delta (which are still Fiat based) the Lancia range consists of nothing more than rebranded, mediocre Chrysler vehicles. Come on, there’s a Lancia badged Chrysler Voyager for Christ’s sake! The brand has no focus, but then again there is no focus within the Fiat Group and I despair! The target of my despair? Sergio Marchionne.

Surgical Mascarpone runs the whole thing and is a monumental bellend. At one point, Fiat was a world beater with class-leading, no-nonsense small cars, interesting medium sized cars, makers of fantastic sports cars on a budget and most important of all, technical innovators. People forget Fiat pioneered the transverse engine with end-on gearbox layout that is basically blueprint for front wheel drive cars nowadays, that the 124 was the first car to have front AND rear disc brakes, the first vehicle to have an intermittant wiper system was a Fiat (124, again) and the first direct injection diesel passenger car was a Fiat Croma. But what of their current range? The Panda is brilliant, make no mistake. But the Punto, when did you last see one that wasn’t a demonstrator? It was a great car when it came out but it is hopefully dated when compared with its rivals. When you consider the average lifespan of a vehicle is six years, the Punto in its current form has been around nine years. They’re not that cheap anymore either. Then there’s the Austin Maxi of the range – the Bravo. These are dead in the water, despite being a good car. But Fiat haven’t really developed it, promoted or pushed the car, certainly not in the UK anyway. Worse still, when the Bravo ceases production, there will be no replacement. Then there’s the 500 which is Fiat’s halo car and also the thorn in its side.

Fiat have come to rely a little bit too much on all things 500. There’s now an Abarth 500, a convertible 500, a large 500, and MPV 500 and soon there’s going to be a 500 SUV! And there is going to be yet more 500 based “treats” for us to relish. You see, when Punto eventually ends production it is going to be replaced by a 500 type vehicle which means Fiat will be selling only Panda and 500 branded products. Stupid.And what of my most beloved of all marques, Alfa Romeo? A company that has one of the finest legacies in motoring. Currently reduced to a two car range: The Mito, which is a pretty average supermini that doesn’t drive quite as well as the Punto it is based on, and the Giulietta which although competant, isn’t exactly setting the world alight with sales. This is a company with a history of some of the best sports cars made, and a company that pretty much invented the sports saloon – two glaring omissions from Alfa Romeo’s range since 2012. Who thought it would be a good idea to end production of 159, Brera, Spider and GT all at the same time without replacement? Oh yeah…