As it rolls its products out into new markets, Lancia is aiming to raise its market share to 1 pct by the end of this year, brand CEO Olivier François said this week. Lancia's European market share currently stands at 0.8 pct.

François' comments come as Lancia launched in the Ukraine last week, on the occasion of the 15th Kiev International Motor Show (23-27 May). Lancia expects to sell around 200 cars in the Ukraine this year, doubling that figure to 400 in 2008. It hopes to appoint 10 dealers in the Eastern European nation by 2010. Fiat Group Automobiles - which is already represented by the Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands in the Ukraine - expects to see its total sales climb from 1,400 units in 2006 to 3,000 per year by the end of 2008. The luxury sporting Maserati brand is also present in the Ukraine.

As Lancia pushes towards a target of 300,000 units sales per year by 2010 set by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchione, it has also been announced this month that Fiat's Turkish manufacturing joint venture partner, Tofas, will take charge of the Lancia brand in that country, with a new sales and distribution network set to become operational before the end of the year.

Lancia is also scheduled to return in the UK and Japan in a little over a year's time and market entry is planned for the Scandinavian nations, as well as several rapidly-growing Eastern European countries where it currently is not represented, including the Czech Republic and Romania.
 

Meanwhile Lancia has announced that it will be main sponsor of the 64th Venice International Film Festival to be held on the Venice Lido from 29 August to 8 September 2007. This is the second year in a row that Lancia will sponsor the Festival. “After our positive experience last year, Lancia will continue to cultivate its association with cinema because cinema is style, class, elegance, tradition and innovation", says Olivier François, chief executive of Lancia Automobiles. "It is a perfect synergy, a project that links the seventh art to our brand".

Lancia will supply the Festival organisation with its prestigious Musa, Phedra and Thesis models to accompany personalities and film stars as they move about the Lido. The cars will carry images of the Golden Lion statuette and the Italian flag. In addition, the brand will be present at the Venice Festival with a number of new initiatives involving the public. With its sponsorship of the 64th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, Lancia confirms its choice of cinema as a cultural reflection of the brand values expressed by its cars: style, quality of life on board, original, innovative solutions, personality, elegance and attitude.