Arrival of the Abarth Coupe

Abarth is planning its first stand-alone car since becoming part of Fiat 40 years ago, The Abarth Coupe will be the firm’s small, fast, efficient and most exciting performance car but, is yet to be released.

Abarth models are the fastest of Fiat’s offerings but Abarth isn’t a made-up division of Fiat like ‘R’ is for VW and ‘M’ is for BMW.  It was an independent car maker and tuner that were renowned for building hill climbing sports cars and for adding performance modifications to cars.

After Fiats takeover of Abarth in the 70s, the Abarth badge got attached to fast Fiats and Lancias but slowly got devalued until it was nothing more than just a badge. More recently the revived brand is riding high following its launch of the Punto Abarth in 2009 and the most recent launch of the 500 Abarth earlier this year.

The latest model Abarth Coupe has a lightweight aluminium body, two seater layout, sloping headlights and huge front air-intakes. It has a removable roof panel for open-air experience without the need for an expensive and heavy folding top. It also has the Abarth trademark white and red colour scheme which marks the car out from other traffic.

The Sporty car theme continues in the cabin, with turbo pressure gauges and Abarth Scorpion logos, sculpted racing seats and a flat-bottomed steering wheel. The Abarth also features Fiat’s Torque Transfer Control (TTC), which mimics a front limited slip differential to maximise traction in the bends, while LED flashing lights on the dash alert the driver at the optimum moment to change gear to get maximum performance or boost fuel economy.