Fiat 500 Abarth Bound for 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show

Fiat 500 Abarth Picture

The U.S. edition of the Fiat 500 Abarth will debut in November at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show. | July 26, 2011| Fiat

Just the Facts:

• The U.S. edition of the Fiat 500 Abarth, a sporty version of the Fiat 500 that's designed to tone down the chick-car factor, will debut this November at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, according to Fiat.
• A Fiat spokesman told Inside Line on Monday that the Fiat 500 Abarth will hit U.S. showrooms in the first half of 2012.
• Fiat is accelerating the introduction of the Abarth scorpion badge to the U.S.

 

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan — The U.S. edition of the Fiat 500 Abarth, a sporty version of the Fiat 500 that's designed to tone down the chick-car factor, will debut this November at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, according to Fiat.
"The Abarth 500 model will make its debut at the Los Angeles auto show this November," wrote Jiyan Cadiz, a Fiat spokesman, in response to an e-mailed query from Inside Line on Monday. "It will retail in the first half of 2012. That's all we have announced to date."
Fiat USA announced via Twitter that the hot-rod version of the Fiat 500 was bound for the Los Angeles auto show.
Fiat executives have pledged that the 500 subcompact would not be pigeonholed as a "cute" car or a chick car. That lesson was driven home to Laura Soave, the head of Fiat North America and a former Volkswagen executive who closely observed the image of the Volkswagen New Beetle before its more masculine redesign.
In February, Soave told The New York Times that Americans would be introduced to the Abarth scorpion badge in 2013 — but that timetable has clearly been pulled ahead. The Fiat 500 Abarth is more than three years old, however. It was introduced at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show. The Abarth 500 is currently sold in other countries with a 135-horsepower turbocharged 1.4-liter. The U.S. version may get the new 135-hp 1.4-liter MultiAir engine featuring electronically controlled inlet valves.
Abarth was founded by the late Karl Abarth — who also went by Carlo. Abarth's scorpion badge is said to be a reference to Karl Abarth's astrological sign — Scorpio; he was born on November 15, 1908.
Abarth was a famed tuner of small Fiats and Simcas in Italy during the 1960s. Abarth versions of both the 500 and the Punto supermini are offered in Europe, and it's the tuned version of the Cinquecento (500) that will be offered in the U.S.