The need for an executive car in its lineup made the Lancia launch the Thesis in 2001.
It was based on the Dialogos concept car. But the series model was far from the prototype.

Lancia gave the world vehicles such as Stratos or the Delta, cars that wrote pages in the motorsport history. The Italian brand had some luxury vehicles in the past, so it wasn’t that much stranger to the premium segment.

The Italian designers started the car with one of the most controversial frontal fasciae from the car industry in 2001, with two odd-shaped headlights and a grille that looked like a shield. The grille was fine, and everybody understood it. The rear of the car, with two vertical taillights, was highly appreciated. The middle though was just too bland.

The Dialogos concept-car had a wooden floor. Nobody expected to have that on a series model and the Thesis had a conventional floor but it kept the wood theme for the center console, door trims, and dashboard. The instrument cluster had for rounded dials and a color display in the middle, for the on-board computer. The infotainment system featured navigation, radio-CD, and AUX-in. It was a different interior than what Audi, Mercedes-Benz or BMW offered at that time.

Developed with its own platform and aluminum suspension on both ends, the Thesis was too expensive to enter in competition with the Ford Mondeo, but it was too far from the performance point of view to keep up with any premium car-manufacturer. Even the top V6 version struggled to get a 0 to 100 kph (0-62 mph) in under 9 seconds.