Performance brand will electrify with rest of Fiat
Could offer even more performance than previous gas cars
Fiat and its performance house brand Abarth were left out of the large EV announcement at the Stellantis EV Day yesterday, but Abarth will not be fading away, the company says. Abarth will be going electric from 2024, bringing the scorpion into the modern automotive era.
Abarth has been part of Fiat since 1971, though they first starting racing cars way back in 1949. The company made its return to North America last decade with an Abarth version of the Fiat 500 and the Abarth 124 Spider.
With the 124 dead, and the gas-powered 500 also out of production, we weren’t sure if the performance brand would stick around. Fiat says, now, that it will be.
As part of the announcement, Fiat said that every one of its vehicles would offer an EV option by 2024 and that it would become EV-only by 2030.
Abarth will join that electric commitment, and while we’ll miss the roarty exhaust notes of the brand’s cars, the handling and dynamics are equally important. As Fiat moves to electrify more of its models, an Abarth 500e or even electric 500L sounds quite appealing.
The announcement didn’t clear up the future of Abarth or Fiat in Canada or the U.S., though. Fiat sales in Canada have dropped even below that of Alfa Romeo. Electrification, and more models, could help spur the brand’s resurgence.
