Fiat 500 Abarth

Diminutive Italian sportster takes on the ‘Ring

Can it recapture the glory years of Abarth?

Fiat has been putting the forthcoming Fiat 500 Abarth through its paces at the Nurburgring.

The little pocket rocket – on which Fiat is pinning so much of its hopes for revival – has been snapped in these exclusive PH photographs with only a minimum of disguise.

Marking the Abarth version out are bigger wheels, a small rear spoiler and additional air intakes at the front to keep the 1.4 turbo motor cool. This engine is also shared with the soon to be released Abarth Grande Punto, and is expected to produce around 150bhp.

With a relatively high output from a small engine, we’re hoping the Abarth 500 has some of the more exciting turbo characteristics from the golden age of turbo hot hatches, rather than the highly useable but slightly uninspiring characteristics of modern light-pressure turbo engines.

Let’s just pray that the Fiat engineers can deliver an entertaining drive as well as a high quality small car.

Expect the Abarth 500 to make its debut at the Geneva motor show in 2008.