Watch out Mini, the Fiat 500 is getting the high-performance treatment. The Abarth version unveiled today is pitched as a new interpretation of the Sixties road racer, but can they make a bigger, heavier hatch as exciting as that?

The 500 Abarth 2008-style uses the Fiat group’s 16-valve 1.4-litre Fire engine breathing with the assistance of an IHI variable-geometry turbocharger to deliver a warm 135bhp at 5500rpm. So this car won’t challenge the upper echelons of hot-hatchdom that now have to pump out closer to 200bhp to be in contention. That honor will befall more tuned Abarth SS versions that are under development.

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We scooped Fiat 500 back in August. Fiat 500 has also a Abrarth version. But this isn’t a 500 Abarth. This is the super-hot Super Sport version with more power and a few mods to make it a more serious performance hatch. Dubbed ‘SS’ this car is still over a year away, but it’ll be proper pocket-rocket when it arrives.

And expect the full list of customisable options to be available too, letting Abarth owners personalise their new toy.

• So just how quick will it be?

There are no official figures yet, and Fiat officials aren’t even being drawn into talking about the regular 500 Abarth. But we do know that the regular Abarth will run a 1.4-litre turbocharged engine turning out around 135bhp.

These spy shots show the SS's larger front bumper and two additional air intakes to help cool the higher-powered engine. In the Grande Punto Abarth the same engine has 150bhp, and in the SS version it’s good for 180bhp. Expect somewhere between 165bhp and 180bhp for the hottest 500.

• What else is new?

These pictures show the 500 Abarth SS has a distinctly jutting front bumper, much larger than on the regular 500 Abarth. And through the disguise you can make out the larger radiator needed to cool the higher-power engine. Also visible are the deeper and less-rounded side skirts.
This prototype is being used to test the engine rather than the suspension: that's why it runs regular 500's wheels.

• What are the other clues that this is a Fiat 500 Abarth SS?

Those tailpipes. Both the Grande Punto Abarth and 500 Abarth run twin tailpipes but only on one side of the car. The Grande Punto Abarth SS and the 500 Abarth SS shown here both have two separate pipes positioned on either side.

Oh, and FYI it’s not a Fiat either. Fiat says that no Fiat badging will appear on the Abarth cars.

• So does that mean the Abarth brand is being re-launched?

Spot on. It’ll start with the launch of the Grande Punto Abarth in October next month. That’s for the Italian market, but we won’t get it in the UK until summer 2008.

Fiat is on a roll. A few years ago it was all-but-bankrupt and having a messy divorce from GM. Now it’s back on track and building some of the best small cars on the market. Let's hope the sportier 500s perform as well as their more mundane, cheaper siblings.

Words: Ben Pulman

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Fiat is finally resurrecting the sporty Abarth badge for a Grande Punto hot hatch, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this week – and aimed squarely at beefed-up supermini rivals such as the Fiesta ST and Skoda Fabia vRS.

Discreet, it ain’t. The new model is coated with chunky Abarth badges and bright-red, go-faster stripes, all bearing the name or trademark scorpion logo of the historic brand.
Looks a bit meaner than the standard Grande Punto.
It certainly does. It has sharper lines than the already handsome Grande Punto and a gaping grille clad with mesh. The nine-spoke, 17-inch alloys suit the design and house luminous-red Brembo callipers.
The rear design is smooth and clean, so long as you can live with the slightly boy-racer darkened rear light clusters.

• What’s it got under the bonnet?

This is no Renault Clio challenger – not yet, anyway. The Grande Punto Abarth comes with a 1.4-litre engine, which might not sound like a lot, but Fiat has taken the liberty of bolting on a Garrett turbocharger, which results in a healthy 150bhp at 5500rpm.

Peak torque of 151lb ft turns up at a surprisingly low 2000rpm, and there’s some extra twist when you prod the Sport mode button, freeing up a muscle 170lb ft for brief overtaking squirts.
There are plans afoot for a hotter, 180bhp version of the Abarth, which should be arriving in the not-too-distant-future.

• And what’s this? A Punto rally car?

The Grande Punto Abarth S2000: not to be confused with an open top Japanese sports car, the S2000 rally car packs a 2.0-litre engine with 270bhp and four-wheel-drive. It’ll compete in the 2007 Italian Rally Championship with Giandomenico Basso at the wheel.

There’s even a race-ready diesel version: the Grande Punto R3D, with a 1.9-litre turbocharged engine and 175bhp.

• When will we see the production warm hatch on sale?

The Abarth goes on sale in autumn 2007. Don’t expect to be belting home in the homologated S2000 version just yet though. For those lusting for a more generous figure than 150bhp, you’ll have to wait for the roadgoing 180bhp model.

Abarth has been set up as a new sub-division of Fiat Auto; it will develop body kits, racing versions and other performance models of existing Fiat products. 'Expect to see the Abarth badge on most of our key models,' said one senior source.

Jack Carfrae

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