For the first time in many years Lancia were right at the centre of the attention of the world's media in Paris on Thursday, as brand CEO Olivier Françoise introduced the new Lancia Delta HPE Concept Car, which is scheduled to arrive in full production in around two years time. With an upmarket stand and a range of models which exude Lancia's values of exclusivity, style and desirability, this was the brand's moment in the spotlight, the unveiling of the Delta HPE Concept Car perfectly crowning their almost year-long 100th anniversary celebrations.

Earlier this month Lancia offered a glimpse of the new concept car during the anniversary celebrations and a presentation held in Venice to coincide with the international film festival. There - while the luxurious Thesis saloon whisked the film stars onto the red carpet - the Delta HPE Concept Car was shown, albeit a restricted view from a distance, to the media as well as Lancia dealers, in the prestigious and history-filled surroundings of La Teatro La Fenice.

On Thursday though came the full presentation of the Lancia Delta HPE in Paris, the 77th Mondial de l'Automobile proving the ideal big occasion for the brand to show off the star its bright new future, and as if to further emphasise the new importance that Lancia now has in Fiat Auto's future strategic planning, the Fiat Group and Auto Division CEO Sergio Marchionne, was in close attendance at the press conference, offering his own personal stamp of approval to the new car.

At exactly midday on the photographers, journalists and television crews all clustered round a circular stage at the culmination of a darkened runway at the centre of the stand, where Lancia's new concept model would be making its première on the catwalk, its fashionable bodywork and lines presenting themselves to be judged by the assembled audience. Olivier Françoise opened proceedings, referring to the 100th anniversary, the bright future now in store, and also introducing the "Nuova" Ypsilon, which was also making its international motor show debut just as it is set to arrive in the showrooms. However the occasion was in reality all about just one car, and to much applause the new Delta HPE Concept Car came bursting through a set of dark curtains, before rolling down the runway and onto the specially positioned platform, and began revolving slowly. This was Lancia's vision of their future, a car that they hope can compete with the very best in the hotly-contested C-segment, and with its spacious 'shooting brake' design qualities, also easily overlap into being a primary choice of consideration for D-segment car buyers.

Frank Stephenson, the former chief of Ferrari and Maserati design, and most famous of course for styling the well received BMW Mini, is now the head of Fiat Centro Stile; and so the new Delta HPE Concept Car is very much his latest handiwork.
 

He's quite upbeat about the new design and the strong impact it has already made. "So far we have had a preview in Venice and it went pretty well there, especially with the dealers who are looking for a new product to beef up the Lancia range; we can't survive for ever on two cars that don't sell that well outside of Europe," he tells me in Paris. "We have plans now to come up with a car that will in volume terms make an impact for Lancia. The C-segment we know is a strong one in Europe, but this car is not only a C-segment car, it almost goes into D-segment territory with the amount of storage capacity and the size or the car.

Much thought has gone into the market positioning this car and with the Lancia brand as a whole; this issue was discussed in much detail by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne during the brand's presentation in Venice held earlier this month. The Delta HPE has had to be especially carefully considered as it due to follow the forthcoming C-segment Fiat Bravo (the replacement for the existing Stilo model and on which it is closely based) into the showrooms in 2008. "We pushed in the direction that this car won't cannibalise any sales of the Bravo as they are quite separate in design terms and impact terms," continues Frank. "In the development time we had a lot of overlap with the Bravo and so the last big push was to go with the shooting brake, the HPE high performance estate, configuration. I think it works well, it's very aerodynamic, it has enough Lancia design cues to associate it with Lancia's past, but still with a modern look, such as the front grille," he concludes.

by Edd Ellison in Paris