Lancia hasn't been in the Australian market since the 1980s, but local enthusiasts do like to keep tabs on the historic Italian marque.
Even though the original Giugiaro-penned Delta never officially made it to Australia, its feats in international rallying are widely recalled -- feats at the hands of stars such as Juha Kankkunen and Didier Auriol.
The new model, released at the Geneva Motor Show, is a very different vehicle. According to Lancia's press material, the 'Delta' name is not just a letter of the Classical Greek alphabet, it's also "a mathematical symbol that stands for change, difference and evolution". So, as far as the maker is concerned, the new Delta represents a change of direction.
Yet, whilst the Delta is certainly a stylistic change of direction from its illustrious forebear, the look of the new car definitely marks it as a close relative of the Thesis large car and pretty much every other current model in the Lancia range.
It must be said though, that the Delta is an attractive design. The car was styled by Lancia's in-house studio, the Lancia Style Centre and despite its small car looks, measures 4.5m in length, 1.8m in width and 1.5m in height. Combine those figures with a wheelbase of 2.7m and it's pushing past the Fiat Ritmo -- which, in itself, suggests that we won't see the Delta here in Australia, even if they do build a right-hand driver.
Motive power for the Delta will come from a variety of different four-cylinder engines -- all of them turbocharged, some diesel and some petrol. Lancia advises that the outputs will range from approximately 90kW to 150kw. Drive to the front wheels will be handled by six-speed manual transmissions, with robotised manual variants -- and six-speed epicyclic automatic options also.
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