Fiat’s tuning brand, Abarth, has nothing to prove. The Fiat 500 Abarth is an unquestionably sweet car and it may just be the closest thing to a street legal go-kart available on U.S. streets today. In light of its success, Fiat unsurprisingly wants to expand the Abarth lineup, but there’s a bit of a problem: the only Fiat currently on sale is the 500. However, that’ll soon change with the arrival of the 500L supermini. Although it may look…goofy on the outside, Fiat wants to give this compact it’s Abarth performance treatment as well.
The European boss of Abarth recently stated that “the 500 family will offer us options. We want to take our brand values to other cars.” And the only other Fiat on sale in the US is the 500L. True, one can buy an Abarth Punto – but you’d have to live in Europe. Since the Punto isn’t sold in the US, the only other Fiat which Abarth can get its hands on for the US market is the 500L. Nothing is official just yet but if there were to be an Abarth 500L, it would likely compete directly against the Mini Countryman Cooper S. Then again, is the hopped-up supermini segment something Americans really care about? Time will tell on this one.
