The manufacturers' concerns with their evolutionary models
It's hard to believe, but in the 1980s, the manufacturers Audi, Lancia and Peugeot could hardly get rid of their Group B road versions. Today, they are worth a lot in collectors' circles and are almost snatched out of auctioneers' hands.
But in the 1980s, DM 200,000 ( Audi Sport quattro) , DM 160,000 ( Peugeot 205 Turbo 16) or DM 150,000 ( Lancia Delta S4) were also a lot of money, after all, a super sports car hardly cost more back then and usually looked much better.
So the last road-going versions probably had to be sold by one or other manufacturer well below the normal price, which was already in deficit. Audi even had to keep 60 of the 214 vehicles built at the time, while historians at Lancia are wondering whether 200 S4 Stradale were actually built.
Incidentally, the problem was not new; even the predecessor of the Lancia Delta S4 had a hard time on the market. I remember myself being offered a brand new Lancia 037 Rally for just 65,000 francs (probably around DM 75,000 at the time) in Italy in the early 1980s. That would have been a pretty good investment, but of course I didn't have the necessary change back then either ...
