Our picture shows how...
Our picture shows how the undisguised V10 hybrid prototype coup탩 will look. If the company, based in Daventry, Northants, can secure funding, the 2+2 will go on sale next year costing around í‚á£35,000. A spokeswoman said: "We are in discussions with interested parties at the moment." The 2.1-litre petrol powerplant was designed in-house, and works in tandem with an electric motor to provide 188bhp. The engine has already undergone independent testing at Millbrook Proving Ground, Bedfordshire, where insiders tell us it exceeded Connaught"s expectations.
Sharing chassis design...
Sharing chassis design and engineering with the hotly anticipated Maserati Spyder, it will revive the Aurelia badge, last worn by the car pictured in our main image.
Featuring a metal folding roof, the two-plus-two would compete with the likes of the Jaguar XK and Lexus SC430, offering refinement and upmarket styling. Likely to be unveiled within the next 18 months – possibly at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show – the new drop-top will also offer a V8 engine and rear-wheel drive.
While prices are yet to be confirmed, given Lancia’s luxurious, top-end image, it’s expected that they will be higher than for equivalent Alfa Romeos, although less than those of Maserati. That means the car could cost as much as ?50,000.
Yet the top-of-the-range Aurelia will not be the only Lancia to arrive in UK showrooms. Both the marque’s Musa mini- MPV, which is already on sale in its Italian home market, and the ever popular Ypsilon supermini look set to grace our shores as well. There are also plans to resurrect the formidable Delta name, famously applied to the four-wheel-drive hatchbacks of the Nineties, which were also the last Lancia-badged vehicles to be officially sold in Britain.
However, while the original Delta – particularly in sporty Integrale trim – owed much of its design and development to its roots in rallying, it’s anticipated that the new version will be a much less performance-oriented model similar to Fiat’s Bravo.