Thema was Lancia's top family in the 80's and by the opinion of many, the last one worthy of the name. This Italian bad boy, went to get the numbers that made up his name, 8.32 to his heart: 8 from V8 and 32 from 32 valves.
The engine of the Lancia Thema 8.32 was a Ferrari 2927 cm3 V8 engine (which featured a Ducati “hand” in the assembly) — the version without catalytic converter debited 215 hp.
The 0-100 km/h sprint was completed in 6.8s and the top speed was 240 km/h. It was the first car to be equipped with an electronic rear wing, which automatically raised and retracted (it depends on the day… Italians have always had very strong personalities…).
The platform (Type4) was shared by four, with the Saab 9000 and the “right cousins” Alfa Romeo 164 and Fiat Croma. J the engine shared it with the Ferrari 308 Quattrovalvole, whose engine had, as the name suggests, four valves per cylinder. The special edition “8.32 Limited Edition” consisted of 32 numbered units, available exclusively in the color “Rosso Monza”.
Today, 30 years after its release, we remember the Lancia Thema 8.32. Watch the promotional video of this Lancia model here.
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Jeremy Clarkson, now we really know what “8.32” means (the English presenter made a faux pas when he explained, in a 1989 episode of Top Gear, the meaning of 8.32 – check it out in the video).