Fiat 500 Abarth teased on the Fiat India website
The new teaser of the Abarth 500 hatchback on Fiat India's website has already got petrol-heads salivating. Abarth is Fiat's high performance division, similar to what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz. In Europe, customers have the choice of either buying parts like suspension kits, exhaust kits and high performance brakes from Abarth or they can choose from ready cars like the Abarth 500 and its many versions.
The Abarth 595 is the more powerful variant of the Abarth 500 and is visually more aggressive. It is available in two variants - Touring and Competizione. We expect the 595 Competizione to be launched in India soon. Earlier this year, we had driven the 595 Competizione which was powered by the 1.4-litre T-Jet churning out 160PS of power and 230Nm of torque.
The Competizione 595 will face competition from the Mini Cooper D and the Mini Cooper S. The car is likely to be slotted between the two in terms of price and power figures - expect a price of around Rs 35 lakh.
Fiat is also expected to launch the Punto T-Jet later on which should provide enthusiasts with an affordable performance-oriented car. It will be pitted against Volkswagen's 105PS Polo GT TSI.