The Lancia Hyena Zagato
A Carhuna Success Story
There are rare cars, and then there are RARE cars. The Lancia Hyena Zagato is one of the latter. With just 24 built, it’s about as hard to come by as they get, which is something of a shame because of how incredible its underpinnings are.
You’ll be forgiven if you’ve never heard of the Lancia Hyena Zagato. It was the brainchild of Lancia’s Dutch importer, Paul Koot, who loved the performance the legendary Integrale Delta HF Integrale Evo 1 had to offer, but wanted something a little lighter, and more stylish. Like any industrious petrolhead he spoke to the right people, and Zagato had just the design.
Zagato designer Marco Pedracini’s curvaceous, small, lightweight penmanship fit the bill perfectly. It removed the Integrale’s rear seats, swapped much of the Integrale’s plastic interior trim with carbon fibre, and the original Lancia dials were replaced with more sporting (albeit less attractive) gauges. It had the soul of a rally car, but it came with an extra dose of glamour.
Its body was made of aluminium and composites over a steel frame, which, alongside plenty of other changes here and there, saved around 200kgs over the base car, giving it a dry weight of just 1,150kgs. On top of that the new body was 50% more rigid than the boxier hatchback. Naturally, its 2.0-litre four cylinder turbocharged engine was looked at as well - in the Hyena it produced 250bhp, which was enough to knock its 0-62mph time down to 5.4 seconds.
Koot’s plan was to build a limited run of six super exclusive cars for discerning customers, but after its reveal at the 1992 Brussels Motor Show netted 14 orders he changed his mind. A plan for 600 cars was drawn up, and hopes were high.
It’s here that a snag in the Hyena’s story appears. While Koot and Zagato were ready to roll, Fiat, Lancia’s parent company, wasn't prepared to formally support the project. Sure, the car was (eventually) allowed to wear a Lancia badge, but that’s about it. This meant that rather than being able to buy a rolling chassis from the line, Zagato had to buy a finished Integrale, peel away the bits it didn’t need, and then begin building the Hyena from there. You can probably imagine how much this added to the base cost of the car… With a sticker price of £74,000 in the early 90s, production targets were shifted to a more modest 75 cars. As we now know, even that target wasn’t hit.
The car that was available on Carhuna, chassis number two, was originally built for a British businessman who wanted something quick and comfy to blast between the UK and Italy. It’s the only Hyena to come with rear seats, too, as he wanted to take his kids along for the ride. Over the years it’s had some performance enhancements, bringing power closer to 300bhp.
As so few were built, the Hyena is a special thing. It’s a rare slice of automotive history, with Zagato style mated to one of the most iconic hot hatches of all time. To see what it’s like to drive, why not watch Tiff have a play?
