Photo: Car Lease
Lancia is one of those few car brands that would have deserved a better fate than what corporate dealings offered it. The Italian company, born in 1906 in one of the world’s most car-advanced cultures, is now slowly sinking to the bottom of the industry’s abyss under the watchful eye of the mighty, newborn Stellantis.
There are many many models in the carmaker’s past, some with a pedigree so exciting it would put other, more successful car brands to shame. Sadly, there is presently only one model available for purchase from Lancia, awfully described by the Italians as a fashion city car: the Ypsilon.
When it finally goes under – and it will, provided the company’s higher-ups don’t have something special planned for it, which is doubtful – we will of course not remember Lancia for the Ypsilon, but for the Delta.
Delta was introduced as a small family car in 1979, and was kept in production for about 20 years. On the road, it might not have been as impressive as others in its segment, but on the circuits of the World Rally Championship, it was a real monster.
A variant of the Delta called HF Integrale is responsible for taking close to 50 WRC wins overall, and landing Lancia the Constructors Championship six times in a row between 1987 and 1992, a record achievement.
But like all good things in life, the Delta supremacy in the WRC ended, and ultimately so did its bloodline. Luckily, modern-day technology allows us to bring back, at least in visual form, anything we like, and change it any way we desire.
That’s exactly what renderers from British Car Lease did as they attempted to give new life to the Delta. While keeping the general proportions and lines of the car, they gave it a more modern styling, sporting the telltale Martini blue lines to one side, angel-eyes headlights, and wheels just like the ones it used to deploy while racing.
As said, it's unlikely Stellantis will make anything of Lancia, so a Delta revival is virtually impossible. But that isn’t stopping us from dreaming.
When it finally goes under – and it will, provided the company’s higher-ups don’t have something special planned for it, which is doubtful – we will of course not remember Lancia for the Ypsilon, but for the Delta.
Delta was introduced as a small family car in 1979, and was kept in production for about 20 years. On the road, it might not have been as impressive as others in its segment, but on the circuits of the World Rally Championship, it was a real monster.
A variant of the Delta called HF Integrale is responsible for taking close to 50 WRC wins overall, and landing Lancia the Constructors Championship six times in a row between 1987 and 1992, a record achievement.
But like all good things in life, the Delta supremacy in the WRC ended, and ultimately so did its bloodline. Luckily, modern-day technology allows us to bring back, at least in visual form, anything we like, and change it any way we desire.
That’s exactly what renderers from British Car Lease did as they attempted to give new life to the Delta. While keeping the general proportions and lines of the car, they gave it a more modern styling, sporting the telltale Martini blue lines to one side, angel-eyes headlights, and wheels just like the ones it used to deploy while racing.
As said, it's unlikely Stellantis will make anything of Lancia, so a Delta revival is virtually impossible. But that isn’t stopping us from dreaming.
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