The Lancia Delta Is Coming Back as an EV

The Lancia Delta Is Coming Back as an EV

Lancia is, admittedly, a company that still exists. A part of the ever-expanding Stellantis family of brands, it's been far from relevant on the global stage for over a decade. It's floundered during a dark age of building rebadged Chryslers and forgettable city cars, far from the glory of its heyday. That may be about to change. According to Lancia's CEO, the Delta is coming back. The Lancia Delta Is Coming Back as an EV

It will return and it will be a true Delta: an exciting car, a manifesto of progress and technology. And obviously, it'll be electric" said CEO Luca Napolitano in an automatically translated version of an interview with Italian outlet Corriere Della Sera. The Lancia Delta Is Coming Back as an EV

Lancia Delta is a legendary nameplate, one that spawned the high-performance purpose-built S4 rally car, the insane Stradale homologation special, the phenomenal Integrale, and the even wilder Integrale Evoluzione/Evoluzione II. The first-generation car won the World Rally Championship a record-setting six times in a row, making it a legend for the sport. The Lancia Delta Is Coming Back as an EV

Few badges carry such pedigree.

Don't assume the new one will live up to the legend. Lancia has not been able to recreate the success of the original Delta in the decades that followed. The second-generation car that launched in 1993 was much tamer and came exclusively as a front-wheel-drive car, foregoing one of the defining features of the rally-bred Delta variants.

The company axed it back in 1999, only to resurrect the Delta name in 2008. That time, it was a Fiat-based, awkwardly styled family hatchback that targeted the premium end of the family hatchback market. No real attempt was made to connect it with the exciting Deltas of the past. In fact, it was even sold as a Chrysler in the U.K. Unsurprisingly, it flopped.

So fans of the original are likely short on patience. Lancia has to get this one right. The hope is that an electric architecture will make an all-wheel-drive, performance variant and easy sell. Either way, it'll be a bit before we know much. The Delta won't launch until after the Ypislon is redesigned for 2024. We aren't expecting Lancia to relaunch in the United States any time soon, which likely dooms the prospects of getting the Delta here. But things could change. Hell, it could come badged as a Chrysler.

So The Lancia Delta Is Coming Back as an EV