I really had high hopes for Chrysler after their bailout by the US government. I had even more hope when the decision was made to bring the Fiat 500 to America. Yet, on arguably the most important day in the American automotive calendar, Chrysler’s minimal showing at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit is at best a big “F*** you!” to the showgoing audience and the American public.

At the 2009 NAIAS, Chrysler brought the biblically beautiful 200C EV concept. One of the things that I had hoped to see from the show was a successor to the aging 300C in either concept or production form (a production 200C would have been phenomenal).

What Chrysler did show us however, was two modified 300C’s, a couple of paint jobs for the Jeep Wrangler, and what they called a “Design Study.” The other name given for this thing is the “Chrysler Lancia” which is exactly what it is: a production Lancia Delta with a Chrysler badge.

Even though the Chrysler Lancia is virtually identical to the Lancia Delta, it manages to be uglier without the Lancia grille. Frankly, it looks like one of those angry old men with a mustache. It looks like a shrunken minivan. It looks awful.

It seems to be that the future for pre-bailout Chrysler was much more exciting and had a brighter future than current Chrysler. Last year’s 200C EV and the Circuit concept showcased the future of Chrysler as being powered by electricity while still having the ability to create absolutely gorgeous vehicles.

What the Chrysler Lancia says about its future is: “instead of having Chrysler design something beautiful, lets just import fairly unpopular European cars and stick our logo on it.”

It all seems a bit… David Beckham to me. For those who don’t know about David Beckham, he is arguably one of the greatest to play the game of Football (or soccer as some prefer to call it). He was touted as the savior of Major League Soccer after signing to the Los Angeles Galaxy, yet in the past few seasons he has been regarded as a $250 million flop.

Beckham enjoyed a great career in Europe, which was evidence enough to import him into America. When he arrived and started playing here, it turned into a different story. Sure he can run with the big boys, but not with the same prowess and utter domination on the field that he enjoyed in Europe.

Chrysler made the conscious decision to bring the Lancia over with all of the history and tradition that it enjoyed in Europe, especially in the field of rally racing with legendary cars like the Delta Integrale and Stratos. Yet, I don’t think that the public will accept the Lancia for its unattractive styling and what is sure to be a price tag in BMW territory with the European Lancia Delta starting at about €22000.

It seems as though Chrysler didn’t put any effort towards NAIAS. A quick look at the press conference schedule reveals that Chrysler didn’t even have a time slot. They also failed to address anything that would be present at the auto show with a press release. At the time that this is being written, there is absolutely no information on the press site. In just about every report that I've seen so far on the car, it seems as though the models as well as spokespeople on the stands for the car don't seem to know a thing about it, with some not even knowing its name.

Chrysler, you are an embarrassment

TheCD’s Take: If this is really the future of Chrysler, bringing rebadged Lancias to the states, they should just give up now because they will certainly fail, at greater expense, in the future.