Lancia will launch a brand new Delta HF Integrale subsequent yr, greater than 30 years since manufacturing of the legendary sizzling hatch ended.
As earlier than, the Integrale identify will adorn the Italian automobile maker’s prime efficiency fashions, beginning from 2026. Alongside the Delta, the brand new DS No8-twinned Gamma flagship, additionally due subsequent yr, will function the emblem in its strongest type.
The information was confirmed as a part of the launch of the Ypsilon Rally6 HF Racing on Tuesday, the second new rally automobile launched by Lancia because it returned to the motorsport with the Ypsilon Rally4 HF Racing final October.
In rally spec, the Ypsilon will get as much as 209bhp from a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine, which is paired with a five-speed handbook gearbox. It additionally will get a limited-slip differential.
Nevertheless, the road-going Ypsilon HF, launched final yr, is powered by the identical 278bhp, 254lb ft electrical powertrain because the Peugeot e-208 GTi, Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce and Abarth 600e – which all use the Stellantis’s e-CMP platform.
This factors to the Delta – anticipated to be twinned with the Vauxhall Mokka – receiving the identical remedy for the HF Integrale range-topper.
That electrical arrange features a mechanical limited-slip diff, hydraulic bump stops and a rear anti-roll bar. The steering can also be mentioned to have been tuned for extra direct responses.
The return of a combustion-engined Delta HF Integrale is not fully off the desk, nevertheless, provided that Peugeot boss Alain Favey has advised Autocar that any resolution on a brand new ICE Peugeot GTi mannequin wasn’t dominated out.
Lancia launched the unique Delta in 1979 as a humble household hatchback, with the stronger HF and turbocharged HF 4WD not arriving till 1983 and 1986.
The now well-known Integrale identify was utilized to the highway automobile in 1987, when the Italian model determined to take the Delta rallying.
This began with the left-hand-drive-only 182bhp HF Integrale 8v, earlier than, in 1989, the extra highly effective 197bhp HF Integrale 16v arrived – which is also had in right-hand drive.
As per WRC guidelines, 5000 homologated highway vehicles needed to be constructed annually to adjust to rules, however by 1993, demand had pushed Integrale manufacturing to just about 45,000.
Because it went out of manufacturing in 1994, many ‘new’ sizzling Deltas have been created. This consists of the £270,000, 300bhp Futurista, a reinterpretation of the Delta Integrale from coachbuilder Automobili Amos, and the Grassi 044S, a 640bhp tribute to the Delta S4 from Grassi Scuderia Milanese.
