If Abarth has stood out for anything since its founding in 1949, it is for its sportiness. It had a birth within the competition that gained popularity with preparations for Fiat, until reaching the point that it was acquired by this brand in 1971. This means that it was under the umbrella of FCA and now Stellantis, which is why it has had to adapt to the needs of this conglomerate. First with the launch of electric models and now it seems that with the goodbye to the combustion engine forever.
Many could consider this fact a heresy, which for the moment will take place in Europe. In the region with the strictest regulations, we have not seen the Abarth 595 and 695 in the brand’s official configurators for some time. It seems that these gasoline versions were withdrawn from the market in August and that there is no intention of bringing them back to life. From now on, will focus on total electrificationpresent through its 500e and also the newcomer: Abarth 600e.
This was recently confirmed Gaetano Thorelresponsible for Fiat and Abarth in Europe, who made it clear that it makes no sense for there to be successors for the gasoline models. He stated that the costs are too high for them and also for the consumer. He gave the example of Italy, where pay a high road tax (between 1,000 and 2,000 euros) for a model that emits 180 g/km. In addition, he made reference to the fact that the new electric cars match the level of enjoyment and also the performance, not to mention that the prices are already similar.
An intermediate option would be to make Abarth models with the microhybrid system that they are going to introduce in the Fiat 500 Ibrida and that comes from other Stellantis models. However, it would not be compatible with the level of power they are looking for in the brand and with the sensations behind the wheel. They also do not have the ability to separate themselves from Fiat and make their own models like Alpine compared to Renault. It seems that they will remain faithful to the DNA of recent years and that the only possibility of expanding the family is for the future Fiat SUV, which will be an older brother of the Panda.
