29 Sep 06 09:56
Lancia unveiled its Delta HPE concept car at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month, but it's here at Paris to preview the brand's upcoming small family-sized car.
The Delta will be sportier-looking than the Fiat Brava/Bravo with which it will share much of its underpinnings. Though clearly a new-age Lancia product, there are many retro cues in its styling: most obvious is the chrome grille, recalling those of 50s Lancias, but touches such as a roof with overhang effects, a rear window without a lower frame and chrome side-strips all nod to details of past medium-sized Lancias.
At 4.5m long, 1.8m wide and 1.5m tall, the five-door Delta HPE promises to be roomy; its wheelbase is 2.7m, and the rear seats slide and recline to give a variable load space/rear legroom ratio, depending on needs. With a 400-litre boot, Lancia describes the Delta HPE as a shooting brake, or sporting estate, rather than a hatch, and references the Beta HPE coupe of the 70s - despite the five-door bodystyle, it perhaps sees this car as more of a rival for the upcoming Volkswagen Scirocco than for the Golf.
Given that Lancia is Fiat's posh luxury brand, the Delta HPE has been developed for comfort: it features a new sound-absorbent roof, a large glass sunroof, a high-spec Bose hi-fi and automatic dual-zone climate control, plus a Bluetooth/MP3 player/USB port enabling playback of music recorded on mobile phones, MP3 players or USB drives via the integral head unit. Lancia promises 'Italian craftsmanship' and 'the highest expression of Italian exclusivity' for the interior finish, which combines Alcantara/leather upholstery, wood trim, chrome details and velour carpet mats.
All this is nothing without power, though, and while this is just a show car, the Delta HPE has been designed to take any of a wide range of powertrains. These will include petrol and diesel engines from 120bhp to over 200bhp and six-speed manual or 'robotised' (clutchless) gearboxes. Lancia also suggests adaptive suspension and electronic damping control.
The new-age Delta is still some way off production. However, when it comes, it will be offered in right-hand drive form, as Fiat intends to reintroduce the Lancia brand to the UK, as well as to export it worldwide. The range is also to include a super-hot Delta Integrale, reborn as an Impreza/Evo rival.
On sale now in left-hand drive Europe is the new-generation Ypsilon supermini, a sister model to the Fiat Grande Punto. The Ypsilon comes with a similar range of engines including two 1.3-litre Multijet diesels, 75bhp and 90bhp and 1.4 8v (77bhp) and 1.4 16v (95bhp) petrol units.
With a higher specification than the Fiat, the Lancia is marketed as the posher choice; its trim levels are labelled Argento, Oro Bianco, Oro Giallo and Platino. Equipment on offer includes a long glass sunroof, dual-zone climate control, a Bose stereo and a Bluetooth/Microsoft telecommunications system.
Lancia's theme in Paris is fashion, and it has set out its stand like a catwalk. Also on display are specially-finished Musa, Thesis and Phaedra models.
