The most important new model for Lancia in recent years - the Delta HPE - is expected to be brought to the market in 15 months, breaking the 18 month record set by the Bravo which was introduced at the end of January - reports Automotive News Europe. This would put the new model on course to arrive in July 2008.

The new car's design was finally frozen on April 12th, seven months after it was first shown to the media during a special event held in Venice last September, reported ANE this week. “This hasn’t been one of the fastest styling processes here at Fiat Auto, but we were not completely satisfied with some details so we extended the design refinement phase,” Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne told the influential newspaper.

The new model aims to straddled C and D segment - appealing to buyers who are shopping in both categories, with emphasis being placed on interior roominess and comfort as well as class-leading load volume. The "Delta HPE" name demonstrates senior management's attempts to combine the practicality of the iconic and much-loved C-segment Delta hatchback with the more luxurious, larger category Beta HPE. It is believed that many detail changes have been made by Lancia Centro Stile from the well-received showcar, and now with the design finalised the pressure is on to get the car's development back on track.
 

“Our target is to cut time to market from the 18 months we needed for the Bravo to just 15 months, or even under 15,” Marchionne told ANE. The Delta HPE is closely based on the Fiat Bravo model. Most European carmakers take between 18 and 30 months to develop a new model, however Fiat reduced the usual industry lead times with the Bravo project by realising most of the project 'virtually' and building the development prototypes on the car's actual production line.

The rapid arrival on the market of the Delta HPE forms a key part of Marchionne's plans to boost Lancia's total sales to 300,000 by 2010 - an ambitious target. Last year Lancia sold 117,000 cars. The Delta HPE is expected to account for around 80,000 unit sales a year once it comes fully on stream, but as Lancia pushes out into new markets this figure could be revised upwards. Within the next year Lancia will return to the right hand drive markets - including the UK - which it vacated in the early 1990s.