Lancia will launch a new Delta HF Integrale next year, more than 30 years since production of the legendary hot hatch ended.
As before, the Integrale name will adorn the Italian car maker’s top performance models, starting from 2026. Alongside the Delta, the new DS No8-twinned Gamma flagship, also due next year, will feature the logo in its most powerful form.
The news was confirmed as part of the launch of the Ypsilon Rally6 HF Racing on Tuesday, the second new rally car launched by Lancia since it returned to the motorsport with the Ypsilon Rally4 HF Racing last October.
In rally spec, the Ypsilon gets up to 209bhp from a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine, which is paired with a five-speed manual gearbox. It also gets a limited-slip differential.
However, the road-going Ypsilon HF, launched last year, is powered by the same 278bhp, 254lb ft electric powertrain as the Peugeot e-208 GTi, Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce and Abarth 600e – which all use the Stellantis’s e-CMP platform.
This points to the Delta – expected to be twinned with the Vauxhall Mokka – receiving the same treatment for the HF Integrale range-topper.
That electric set up includes a mechanical limited-slip diff, hydraulic bump stops and a rear anti-roll bar. The steering is also said to have been tuned for more direct responses.
The return of a combustion-engined Delta HF Integrale isn’t completely off the table, however, given that Peugeot boss Alain Favey has told Autocar that any decision on a new ICE Peugeot GTi model wasn’t ruled out.
Lancia launched the original Delta in 1979 as a humble family hatchback, with the more potent HF and turbocharged HF 4WD not arriving until 1983 and 1986.
The now famous Integrale name was applied to the road car in 1987, when the Italian brand decided to take the Delta rallying.
This started with the left-hand-drive-only 182bhp HF Integrale 8v, before, in 1989, the more powerful 197bhp HF Integrale 16v arrived – which could also be had in right-hand drive.
As per WRC rules, 5000 homologated road cars had to be built each year to comply with regulations, but by 1993, demand had pushed Integrale production to nearly 45,000.
Since it went out of production in 1994, many ‘new’ hot Deltas have been created. This includes the £270,000, 300bhp Futurista, a reinterpretation of the Delta Integrale from coachbuilder Automobili Amos, and the Grassi 044S, a 640bhp tribute to the Delta S4 from Grassi Scuderia Milanese.
