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New Models
AUTOS: Abarth Heats Up Fiat 500
Italian performance company adds turbocharger plus body, suspension and brake enhancements to create hot little sports coupe arriving next year.
Fiat will roll out its Abarth-enhanced 500 coupe at the Los Angeles Auto Show, with sales beginnng early next year. (Photo: Fiat)
U.S. drivers can soon enjoy one of the most stylish and fun-packed hot hatches from Italy, which the rest of the world has been lapping up since 2008.
The sporty new Fiat 500 Abarth makes its debut later this month at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show before hitting local showrooms early in the new year.
For anyone not familiar with the Abarth brand, it is an Italian race-car manufacturer that’s now responsible not only for Fiat’s motorsports efforts but also for the tuning of its cars. You’ll recognize an Abarth by the menacing scorpion logo adorned to many of their offerings.
The new Fiat 500 Abarth, pictured here in U.S. trim for the first time, will arrive as a 2012 model with a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine with MultiAir technology and a standard six-speed manual. Chrysler hasn’t announced power levels for its new 500 Abarth but expect something similar to the 135 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque offered in its European equivalent.
What we do know is that it will come with track-tuned suspension and brakes, a sporty body kit and an aggressive rear diffuser with integrated exhaust tips. The suspension and brake modifications should ensure that the car behaves itself on bends, making it safer and more thrilling when the pedal is pushed to the floor.
In other words, it should be faithful to the phrase coined by Abarth founder Karl Abarth for the sporty Fiats of the 1960s: “Small but wicked”.
You can also expect a price hike over the $15,500 asking price of the regular 2012 Fiat 500.
The sporty new Fiat 500 Abarth makes its debut later this month at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show before hitting local showrooms early in the new year.
For anyone not familiar with the Abarth brand, it is an Italian race-car manufacturer that’s now responsible not only for Fiat’s motorsports efforts but also for the tuning of its cars. You’ll recognize an Abarth by the menacing scorpion logo adorned to many of their offerings.
The new Fiat 500 Abarth, pictured here in U.S. trim for the first time, will arrive as a 2012 model with a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine with MultiAir technology and a standard six-speed manual. Chrysler hasn’t announced power levels for its new 500 Abarth but expect something similar to the 135 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque offered in its European equivalent.
What we do know is that it will come with track-tuned suspension and brakes, a sporty body kit and an aggressive rear diffuser with integrated exhaust tips. The suspension and brake modifications should ensure that the car behaves itself on bends, making it safer and more thrilling when the pedal is pushed to the floor.
In other words, it should be faithful to the phrase coined by Abarth founder Karl Abarth for the sporty Fiats of the 1960s: “Small but wicked”.
You can also expect a price hike over the $15,500 asking price of the regular 2012 Fiat 500.
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