Autoblog

click above image to view high-res gallery of the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth SS

Fiat has big plans for the resurrected Abarth brand, wasting no time with a 180 HP splash in the body of the Grande Punto Abarth SS. Fiat plans to use Abarth as an in-house tuning and racing concern, and this car demonstrates the kind of tuning they have in mind.

There are two Grande Punto Abarths: the base model comes to the party with "just" 150 HP, but the SS takes it up to 180 HP. The Abarth SS models also get a nice body kit that looks like it came from a Transformers spare parts bin. The interior is clean and basic, but not spartan, and well-laid out. Good luck to anyone who doesn't plan on racing everyone and everything at every stop light. For a small hatch, it's one of the hottest cars out there -- check out the special edition Frankfurt Auto Show wheels -- and the hottest presenters didn't hurt either.

Check out the press release after the jump, and be sure to check out the gallery of hi-res images.

Gallery: Fiat Grande Punto Abarth SS

Abarth is returning to the scene with force. The historic Italian tuning house, long a part of the Fiat group, has been hard at work turning Fiat's models into hot hatches worthy of the scorpion badge's revival. At Geneva we saw the production preview of the Grande Punto Abarth, and the Abarth version of the newly-launched 500 retromobile is expected at Tokyo. With their work cut out for them, the Fiat Abarth team is pounding the test track developing the dynamic duo.

Both cars are anticipated to benefit from tightened-up suspensions, beefed-up brakes, revised bodywork, trim and badging, and two high-performance four-cylinder engines: one producing 150 horsepower, and an even more powerful version with output in the neighborhood of 180-200hp. With these kinds of hot hatches looming on the horizon, and a Bravo Abarth expected to follow shortly thereafter, the future is looking good.

[Source: World Car Fans]

With just days to go before its investors meeting later this week, it's back to the drawing board for Bertone. According to emerging reports, a proposed deal that would have seen Fiat come to the rescue for the struggling coachbuilder and design house with a manufacturing contract has fallen through.

The plan was for Bertone to build up to 15,000 units of a Lancia-badged hard-top convertible based on the Fiat Grande Punto, previewed by such Bertone concepts as the Suagna (unveiled in Paris) and the 95th anniversary barchetta (pictured, shown in Geneva). After extensive negotiations, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne announced the deal was simply "not a financially viable business case". The deal reportedly fell apart after the two parties came to a deadlock over the number of staff members required to execute the contract, with Fiat insisting that half of Bertone's 1500 person workforce be cut. A contract for Bertone to build camper vans based on the Iveco Daily commercial van will reportedly still go through, but that will only require 200 people to execute.

The convertible, it was decided, will instead be build in-house along the same assembly line as its Grande Punto sibling. Like its rivals, Bertone has been struggling to remain a viable enterprise. Watching such a stoic name like Bertone fold would be a shame, but if its continued operations are to be secured, the Italian design house is going to have to face staggering cutbacks.

[Source: Automotive News via Motor Authority]

Fiat is cooking up something spicy and opening a bottle of classic Abarth to go with it. Up until 1971, Abarth was an independent automaker and racing team when, like nearly all Italian marques, it was sold to Fiat, who in turn transformed it into their own in-house tuning department.

The car set to revive Abarth's scorpion badge is a hot-hatch version of the popular Fiat Grande Punto. Thematically based on the European Championship-winning Rally Super racing car, the Punto Abarth will be positioned far above the current range-topper, the 130-hp 1.9-liter Multijet diesel Sporting. Sources anticipate the Abarth to be motivated by a 200-horsepower twin-turbo powerplant, which is expected to propel it to sixty in seven seconds flat. To accompany the extra power, we can expect a host of visual enhancements taking their cue from the aforementioned rally car, including a wider track, roof-mounted air intake, jumbo alloys with low-profile rubber, a lip spoiler on the trailing edge of the roof, side skirts and a black front grille like on the Panda 100hp.

It's plain to see that, just like on the F1 circuit where Fiat-owned Scuderia Ferrari battles against Renault, the Punto Abarth is aimed squarely at the Renaultsport Clio 197. A package with more power for less money plus that unmistakable Italian flare should present a compelling case when the Abarth hits showrooms late in this new year.

[Source: Auto Express]

Fiat is preparing its new Bravo for debut at Geneva next spring, and photos have surfaced of a test mule tooling around Turin.

Fiat hopes to take aim at the hot-selling Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus with its new Bravo hatch, developed in conjunction with Canadian components supplier Magna. Although the mules are heavily disguised, you can discern a front end influenced by the Italian company's successful Grande Punto, above which the Bravo will slot in the Fiat line-up. Considering the new Punto was penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign, that's not a bad thing to emulate.

Fiat needs the Bravo to succeed in order to maintain the positive momentum gained by the success of the new Punto. Although the Bravo won't be reaching American shores, the Alfa 149, which will share share its platform, likely will.

[Source: World Car Fans]