The Lancia Hyena: A Glimpse into Automotive Rarity

There was a time when owning a Lancia Delta HF Integrale was a symbol of power, however, there were also people who did not find this Hot Hatch exclusive enough. And this is how the story of this Lancia Hyena that will soon be auctioned begins, an extremely exotic car manufactured in a strictly limited series that we can consider as one of the most exclusive, sporty, and expensive modern Lancias ever made.

We have to go back to the early 90s to find out the origin of this peculiar car called the Lancia Hyena and which, for many, has possibly been a total unknown until today. As we said, with Lancia triumphing in rallies and achieving notable commercial success with the Delta and its Integrale versions, there were still people who demanded a plus from the Italian brand in order to boast a more exclusive car.

And so the Dutch importer Paul Koot enters the scene, who was in charge of launching the project to turn the Delta into a much more exclusive and sporty coupe. With a production target set at 500 units, the Lancia Hyena project was entrusted to Lancia and the coachbuilder Zagato, thus creating a new car that became a slim two-door coupé, with clearly Zagato design cues, but where more than 180 kg of weight were also saved thanks to the intensive use of carbon fiber in order to improve – even more – its behavior and agility.

From a technical point of view, the configuration of the Delta HF Integrale used as a base was maintained, managing to offer 250 CV of maximum power, although raising that figure to 320 CV in the case of this unit that will go up for auction in the coming weeks. Of course, this interesting project barely ended up assembling 24 units in total between 1992 and 1994, being weighed down by a fairly high purchase price at the time of its launch.

With just 31,200 km and painted in a beautiful Grigio Alloy color, now one of these twenty-four Lancia Hyenas can be yours, a unit that has also been recently and meticulously restored to look in truly impeccable condition. The auction will be held by RM Sothebys on August 17 in Monterey, indicating a sale price that could range between 300,000 and 400,000 dollars.