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2026 Lancia Delta Speculatively Rendered With Sharp Exterior Cues

Named after the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, Delta became a household name at the 1979 Frankfurt Motor Show. Subsequently awarded European Car of the Year for 1980, the five-door hatchback really came into its own in July 1983 with the introduction of the HF.
2026 Lancia Delta rendering by Bernhard Reichel 11 photos
Photo: Reichel Car Design
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Last used on the Stratos, the HF nomenclature soldiered on for 1986 when the Delta received a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder powerplant and four-wheel drive. Two years later, the Integrale rolled out with 182 brake horsepower (185 ps) and 224 pound-feet (304 Nm) at 3,500 revolutions per minute.

The Delta still is the most successful WRC machine of them all thanks to 51 wins in total. Be that as it may, the Italian automaker took a turn for the worse in the 1990s due to very bad management on Fiat’s part. All models from this era were closely related to Fiats due to heavy-handed cost cutting, which is why the second-generation Delta is widely considered a phony.

Lancia revived the Delta once again at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show in the guise of a rebodied Fiat Bravo with nicer styling inside and out. The quality, however, left much to be desired. Sold under the Chrysler brand in the UK, the compact car wasn’t up to snuff from a mechanical standpoint either.

Discontinued in 2014 over poor sales, the final iteration of the Delta enjoyed a commercial high point of 29,971 examples during calendar year 2009. By comparison, the similarly-sized VW Golf moved 571,838 units that year.

Phased out with a whimper instead of the bang it still deserves, the Delta will come back sometime this decade thanks to Groupe PSA know-how as part of the Stellantis cross-border merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Confirmed by chief executive Luca Napolitano, the Delta “will be a statement of progress and technology.” The only other thing we know is that Lancia intends to go electric by 2026 and that the Ypsilon’s redesign takes priority. Given these circumstances, the Delta will clearly be an EV.

Speculatively imagined in the guise of a sharp-styled hatchback with multiple levels of electrification, the Delta before your eyes comes courtesy of pixel artist Bernhard Reichel. Expected to feature the SLTA Medium platform, the fourth-gen Delta could use solid-state batteries that are reportedly capable of a driving range of up to 700 kilometers (435 miles).
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Editor's note: Delta Integrale Final Edition pictured in the gallery.

About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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