The Lancia Beta rusted in British driveways — and the buy-back could not save the marque

Launched in 1972 as the first new Lancia after Fiat's takeover, the Beta was the marque's renewal — Berlina first, then Coupé, Spider, HPE and Montecarlo. In Britain, Lancia's biggest export market, it became the best-seller: 1978 was Lancia's best-ever British year, with around 11,800 cars sold.

Then early cars began to dissolve. Corrosion attacked the subframe, and the trade still argues the cause — Soviet-sourced steel obtained through Fiat's barter of 124s for raw material with the Lada works, say some; poor rustproofing and strike-era build quality, say others. On 9 April 1980 the Daily Mirror ran 'Luxury Cars In Rust Riddle' and ITV News followed the same night; the scandal was on national television.

Lancia's response was everything a response could be: Britain's first six-year anti-corrosion warranty in 1979, then a buy-back programme — affected cars exchanged for a Lancia or a Fiat, failed cars crushed with engines and gearboxes removed, the last of them flattened by late 1983. It was not enough. The Beta name was quietly dropped from the saloon's successor to distance the range from it; in December 1993 Lancia announced it would no longer supply any right-hand-drive market. The Beta family totalled 435,802 cars — and the marque's British market, built over a decade, was gone.