Bad news about the Lancia Delta puts the brand’s customers in a bad mood. Nothing to do, it seems that the wait will be unnerving.
Few cars have left a mark in the common imagination of rally enthusiasts or simple customers of the brand lucky enough to own one of these cars. Launch Delta: divided into three generations, the first of which arrived in 1979, the history of the car clearly fits in with the sporting past in the world of Lancia’s WRC which, at the peak of its success, decided to close down and abandon racing, until now, definitively.
The car that brought the Italian brand to the top of the world so many times it was supposed to receive an evolution known as the Lancia Hyena but, in the end, the brand opted to keep the model alive albeit in a very different way. In fact, in 2008 the last generation of the car was released – at least until now – a model that does not look much like the historic car whose name it bears but which, all things considered, has enjoyed good commercial success.
Now that the plan for the relaunch of the Stellantis Premium Brands has officially started with the new Ypsilon which constitutes the first piece of this puzzle. We are ready to see a fourth generation of Lancia Delta, a car that carries on its shoulders the weight of the expectations of enthusiasts who have dreamed of a new Delta for ten years. But those expecting a return to the model’s historic sporting traditions may be disappointed upon hearing this news.
The Lancia Delta will be silent
You know what detail has impressed WRC fans the most about it the Lancia Delta? The roar of its four-cylinder engine, a thunder that meant only one thing to its rivals: they were about to be beaten once again. Clearly, however, things are changing, especially today when electric vehicles dominate the market.
Well let’s get ready to say goodbye to that spectacular roar because the new Delta due out in 2028 will be completely electric and silent as CEO Luca Napolitano confirmed: ““The new Lancia Delta will be exclusively electric, we’re not going back. We must arrive prepared for 2035, study the new mobility without being caught unprepared. Electric propulsion goes well with Lancia. Driving comfort will grow in silence”an excerpt from the interview with the CEO of the brand who Engines on Engines reported on the matter.
So there’s nothing to be done for those who were hoping for a bad, noisy and violent car like Delta in its heyday. On the one hand it’s nice to know that the Delta is really about to return, even if there’s a long way to go, but on the other hand this news is a bit disheartening without taking anything away from the electric motors which guarantee thrilling performance. It’s a shame, however, that, at least for now, the brand hasn’t thought of a method like the one patented by Ferrari to provide the very quiet electric motor with an artificial noise, at least to return to the glories of the past.
