Abarth is a name that will be unfamiliar to many a motorist, being one of the smallest brands on today’s market – only just over 1,000 Abarth-badged cars hit UK roads in 2024.
In fact, the Italian brand has never produced its own cars – it has a history based mainly on competition success, concentrating on both extracting more performance from cars of other brands – predominantly Fiat, occasionally Lancia – and manufacturing aftermarket tune-up parts, such as exhausts.
After many years of making Fiats go faster, Abarth was eventually taken over by Fiat and recast as a performance sub-brand, much the relationship between AMG and Mercedes-Benz.
Abarth cars today are little more than muscled-up Fiats, but they tend to be more highly regarded, and this reputation has survived the removal of the usual major element of a performance brand – the engine – as Abarth joins the rest of the car industry in moving into the electric car.
So who or what is Abarth?
Abarth is named after its founder, Carlo Abarth, who established his company in 1949 using the assets of a failed and short-lived Italian car brand called Cisitalia. Abarth adopted a scorpion for the company logo because his star sign was Scorpio.
Abarth’s first cars were based on a Cistalia model and were raced by various top Italian drivers. From the beginning, however, the company also produced performance accessories for cars from other brands, especially Fiats. These tuning kits and performance exhausts proved to be a lucrative business for Abarth.
The effectiveness of Abarth’s upgrades led to a direct relationship with Fiat, with Abarth earning money every time an Abarth-modified Fiat found racing success. By 1971, Carlo Abarth sold the business to Fiat altogether, which sold off the racing business and directed Abarth to running rally cars for Fiat.
Within a decade, Fiat had reorganised its motorsport activities and, for the next 25 years, the Abarth name existed only as a badge on the most powerful Fiat cars.
The story came full circle in 2007 when Fiat relaunched Abarth as a separate company, effectively reviving part of its predecessor’s DNA by producing bespoke performance versions of existing Fiat models.
These included Abarth performance versions of cars like the Grande Punto small hatch and 124 Spider (Fiat’s short-lived version of the current Mazda MX-5). But Abarth is today best-known for its hot hatch variants of the Fiat 500 city car, which have continued into the electric era with the 500e.
What models does Abarth have today and what else is coming?
The current Abarth range focuses on just two models, the 500e and 600e, both based on Fiat models of the same name.
The Abarth 500e is derived directly from the Fiat 500e and when it went on sale in summer 2023 was the first performance-pitched city car powered by an electric motor. Significantly quicker than the Fiat 500e models, it also gains the typical hot hatch upgrades of larger wheels, performance-tuned suspension and a more sporty look.
The range and ability of the Abarth 500e helps secure it an A mark in the Expert Rating index compiled by The Car Expert – despite the car also gaining a more controversial addition, a sound generator to make it sound like a performance car with a petrol engine. This has been criticised by some as being too loud and intrusive.
The 500e can also be had as a cabriolet, which is simply a 500e hatchback with a roll-back canvas roof rather than a properly folding soft top.
Current Abarth range on our Expert Rating Index
The newly launched Abarth 600e is a crossover based on, you guessed it the Fiat 600e. But it also shares much of its hardware with several other Stellantis models like the Jeep Avenger, Vauxhall Mokka Electric and Alfa Romeo Junior. Again, the recipe is a combination of more aggressive visuals and more power – 240hp in the standard 600e Turismo and 280hp in the 600e Scorpionissima, a limited-edition launch model.
The Abarth 595 and Abarth 695 versions of the long-lived Fiat 500 hatchback have now finally bitten the dust, with the last models removed from sale in 2024.
What’s coming next from Abarth is yet to be confirmed. What we do know is that future models will be electric, the brand’s European boss quoted as saying Abarth will not launch any further petrol or even hybrid cars. Forthcoming models will also continue to be based on Fiat product – Abarth has never made its own road cars and apparently has no plans to follow the lead of Renault’s Alpine brand with bespoke models.
Where can I try an Abarth car?
With Abarth so closely related to Fiat, it’s pretty likely that where you find a Fiat dealer, you will also find the cars of its performance-focused stablemate. In total there are 78 Abarth outlets in the UK network and they are well spread across the country – the website includes a locator to find your nearest.
What makes Abarth different to the rest?
The scorpion in the Abarth logo may have been chosen for astrological reasons but came to represent Carlo Abarth’s view of what cars should be. Abarths are typically powerful but equally renowned for being small and agile cars.
An Abarth fact to impress your friends
Carlo Abarth was always out to prove just how competitive his modified Fiat vehicles could be. As a young motorcyclist, he raced and beat the famed Orient Express train from Vienna to Ostend, a distance of more than 850 miles.
In the 1950s, Carlo set numerous acceleration records – including in an Abarth racing car that had a cockpit so small that he had to shed 30kg from his weight to get in it. He did this by eating nothing but apples for several days.
Summary
Abarth is very much a niche name, but one which parent company Fiat appears very protective of – those that like Fiat’s most popular car, but want a much more exclusive version, along with one with rather more potency, buy an Abarth.
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