Officine 83: new Abarth HQ leaves room for small-run specialty cars
Click to view in our hi-res image gallery
Fiat has been putting a lot of money and energy into the rejuvenation of the Abarth brand as its own in-house racing and tuning division. Now preparing to unveil its second model, the Fiat 500 Abarth, at the fast-approaching Geneva show, Abarth also cut the ribbon on its new headquarters. Called Officine 83, Abarth has set up shop in the old Mirafiori engineering plant, adjacent to Fiat's design, experimental construction and engineering departments.
The facility houses the racing team, the competition vehicles department and the road car unit, with the technical and design offices next to the workshops and the business offices upstairs. The interesting part, however, is not what Officine 83 includes, but rather space they left empty, earmarked for a future workshop to produce small runs of specialty vehicles. Of course any inference over what could be built there would be nothing more than pure speculation at this point, but the presence of that open space lends credit to previous reports that Abarth could get its own unique models. With sister-brand Alfa Romeo – now operated by the same chief executive – readying a 500-car run of the sumptuous 8C Spider, and Lancia rumored to get its own version, the idea of a limited-run halo model for Abarth is about as tantalizing as it gets.
Check out the gallery for images of the new Abarth headquarters in Turin.
Gallery: Abarth HQ: Officine 83 Mirafiori
[Source: Abarth]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rick 6:31PM (2/20/2008)
Abarth needs to get back into world rallying and remind the world who owned the series in the 70's, 80's and early 90's.
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Brian 8:16PM (2/20/2008)
Amen to that my brother!
DIRETTORE 7:20PM (2/20/2008)
* WTF? Bertone has capacity for 60,000 units/yr & is starving for business. Across the street Abarth opens up a new production facility? Io no comprendare.
Can't these guys work together in a mutually beneficial & complementary manner?
It kills me Bertone is under bancruptcy when they could have simply signed a contract to take over production of speciality cars like this.
QUE CAZó?
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Andrew 7:42PM (2/20/2008)
Sure, and if only those Israelis and Palestinians would realise that they can put down their weapons and share the same land! Presto! World peace and harmony. Oh, wait, they replied to the suggestion with an RPG.
Evan 8:10PM (2/20/2008)
maaaaan. I want to go there.
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Colin Smith 8:57PM (2/20/2008)
Abarth to the Palestinian question in one jump. Fantastic. I love this site.
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