- See also Lancia Delta S4
The Lancia Delta was a successful car sold by Lancia from 1979 to 1994. The design was by Giorgetto Giugiaro. In Sweden it was sold by Saab Automobile as Saab 600. Saab also helped with the logistics and the model was actually better suited for colder climates and less prone to rust than other models.
While the majority of Delta models where 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 for years the World Rally Championship and has won the Constructors Championship six times in a sequence (1987-1992), which is a record.
The Lancia Delta S4, while sharing the name and visual resemblance, 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 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, even though the Delta Integrale was left hand drive only, but also because the brand had become increasingly unpopular in that country owing to rust. Lancia finally abandoned the UK, and other right hand drive markets in 1994.
The car was targeted on more comfort-oriented customers, because since Fiat acquired Alfa Romeo in 1990, there was no need for them to build sports cars under two different labels.
But still the Delta Nuova could offer up to 187 DIN-bhp (139 kW) but without the famous four wheel drive.
Even today, one can find old HFs rallying around Italy, with modified versions with 300 to 500 hp (224 to 373 kW).
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