NAIAS: Chrysler Lancia Delta Design Study Official Photos

How do you call a car made in Italy, named locally Lancia, but with an American face on it? Well, apparently, you may call it Chrysler Design Study, as the American manufacturer calls the Chrysler-Lancia mutant showcased this week at the 2010 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).

What exactly the study was supposed to spawn is not all that clear, as the car is nothing but a Lancia Delta (about 90 percent of it) who went to plastic surgery and received Chrysler's nose and lips.

The car stirred so much excitement within Chrysler's ranks that the manufacturer didn't even bother to release some details about it, not to mention give it a proper name. We reckon what lies underneath the body of the car is about 100 percent Italian anyway...

The purpose of the exercise? Although this car is not part of the immediate future of Chrysler's line-up in the US, NAIAS may prove to be the perfect opportunity to see how the American public will respond to a Lancia-Chrysler mutant.

According to some, the CEO of both Fiat and Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, plans to slowly but surely merge the two brands into one.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting for some official word on the Chrysler Lancia Delta, as well as on the other Fiat/Chrysler novelty for NAIAS, the 500 BEV. The latter uses Chrysler’s modular electric technology, developed over the last three years, sourced from now almost dead ENVI program.