Lancia Delta
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- See also Lancia Delta S4
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The Lancia Delta was a successful car sold by Lancia from 1979 to 1994 and was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. In Sweden, it was sold by Saab Automobile as the Saab 600. Saab also helped with the logistics and as a result, the Delta was better suited for colder climates and less prone to rust than other Lancias. Its key competitors were the Volkswagen Golf, Vauxhall Astra/Opel Kadett and Ford Escort. For a few years after its launch, the Delta was one of the most contemporarily styled cars of its class in Europe.
While the majority of Delta models were ordinary compact family cars, the most famous model was the Delta HF Integrale, a 4WD hatchback with a very powerful engine. A tweaked version of the HF dominated the World Rally Championship for years and has won the Constructors Championship six times in a row from 1987 to 1992, a record.
The Lancia Delta S4, while sharing the same name and appearance, was a "Group B" race car designed specifically for rallying, and entirely different from the commercial Delta in terms of construction and performance.
The Delta was voted Car of the Year in 1980.
In 1993 the Delta's successor, the so-called Delta Nuova — based on the Fiat Tipo platform, was introduced. This model was not sold in the United Kingdom, not only because it was not available in right hand drive (despite the fact that the original Delta was not available in right hand drive either), but also because the brand had become increasingly unpopular in that country due to rust problems with older Lancias. Lancia finally abandoned the UK market and other right hand drive markets in 1994.
The Delta Nuova was targeted for more comfort-oriented customers. Since Fiat acquired Alfa Romeo in 1990, there was no need for Fiat to build sports cars under two different brands. The Delta Nuova could offer up to 187 DIN-bhp (139 kW) but without four wheel drive.
Even today, one can find old HFs rallying around Italy, with modified versions that rate from 300 to 500 hp (224 to 373 kW).
See also
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