Da wiki:
The Saab-Lancia 600 is a rebadged Lancia Delta, sold by Saab after a deal with Lancia.
The deal was a part of the 1980s co-operation between the Swedish car manufacturer Saab and the Italian Fiat Group, which includes Lancia and Alfa Romeo in addition to Fiat. The partnership also resulted in the 'Type 4' project, which provided the common platforms for the Saab 9000, the Lancia Thema, the Fiat Croma and the Alfa Romeo 164).
The 600 was developed because Saab did not have the finances to support the production of entirely new models and looked to other companies in order to provide a new model line-up.
The first years it was sold as GLS and the exclusive GLE, but due to poor sales because of the high price tag the GLE-model was later dropped from the lineup. It was only offered with the 1.5 litre engine that had 85 horsepower connected to a manual 5-speed gearbox.
The Saab-Lancia 600 was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and, in common with the company's other models, was a front-wheel drive and a hatchback, with a rallying pedigree. Saab helped with the adaption to Nordic climate for the 600/Delta.
As a result of this Scandinavian input, both the Saab-Lancia 600 and the Lancia Delta had better resistance to rust than most Italian cars and were better suited to a cold climate.
The Lancia Delta earned the European Car of the Year Award in 1980.
The Saab-Lancia 600 was sold in Sweden and Norway only.
