Lancia Confirms A New Delta HF Integrale Is Coming

Earlier today, Lancia unveiled the Ypsilon HF Racing, an entry-level turnkey rally car based on the new version of the brand’s supermini. It’s pretty neat if largely inconsequential, especially for those of us in the UK, where the Lancia brand is still very much absent.

But buried at the very bottom of the press release was this tidbit, regarding the ongoing rebirth of Lancia’s famed HF performance badge: “HF will become the defining feature of all the high-performance versions within the new Lancia lineup: today on the Ypsilon model and soon to appear in 2026 on the upcoming Gamma and Delta with the "HF Integrale" label.”

Erm, what? Did Lancia just confirm that its most iconic car of all – the Delta Integrale – is coming back next year? Seems that way. But we wouldn’t get overexcited just yet.

The HF Integrale was, of course, the turbocharged four-wheel drive version of the humble Delta hatchback. Conceived as a homologation special to give the Delta a leg up in rallying, it did the job quite handily, as the Integrale went on to win six straight WRC titles between 1987 and 1992, spawning one of the most iconic performance cars of the era in the process.

Our hope, then, would be for a modern-day return of that recipe, something to take on the likes of the Toyota GR Corolla and fill the gap left by the Ford Focus RS. The reality, sadly, is probably quite far from this.

Lancia first confirmed the return of the Delta nameplate, which lived on until 2014 in various less interesting forms, back in 2021. Back then, as the company was planning its grand rebirth, it committed to being an EV-only brand by 2028, although it’s since changed course on that with its other planned new model, the Gamma.

Either way, though, we’d imagine that the new Delta Integrale will be electrified in some form. Given that the Integrale badge once denoted the four-wheel drive versions of the Delta, our best guess is for a dual-motor EV. There’s also the question of what the new Delta will look like. Details on it are scant for now, and we’d hope it’ll keep a traditional hatchback silhouette, but as with anything these days, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it morph into a crossover.

Maybe we’re totally wrong. Maybe Lancia is, in fact, working on a proper successor to the last truly great car it built, and the world will be blessed with another turbocharged, rally-bred hot hatch next year. We wouldn’t bet on it, but we know one thing: the Lancia Delta HF Integrale is coming back.