Italian authorities investigating million-euro parts heist at Abarth plant

Noah Joseph — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:01:00 EST

Filed under: Europe, Government/Legal, Fiat

We dig Abarth. In fact we hope the Fiat performance brand arrives Stateside pronto. But when it does, we hope it comes with all the parts.

You see, while many cars can be had in one specification or another from the factory, Abarth lets you upgrade after the fact. So you can order, say, a Fiat 500 Abarth, enjoy it for a while, and when you've got a little extra cash on hand, you can order the EsseEsse kit from Abarth and have your car upgraded. Sorta like an aftermarket tuner, only with full factory support.

The trouble is that some of the workers at Officine 83 in Fiat's Mirafiori plant near Turin have (after listening to some Johnny Cash and watching one too many episodes of The Sopranos) reportedly found the system easy enough to walk away with about a million euros - $1.38 million - in performance parts and various accessories. According to reports, employees were pilfering parts from the factory and selling them online at a significant discount.

The scam was reportedly uncovered when Abarth received numerous reports from dealers that components or even entire kits that they'd ordered never arrived. The company subsequently notified the Carabinieri - Italy's federal police force - which undertook an eight-month investigation into the incident.

Italian authorities investigating million-euro parts heist at Abarth plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Officine 83: new Abarth HQ leaves room for small-run specialty cars

Noah Joseph — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:02:00 EST

Filed under: Europe, Plants/Manufacturing, Fiat

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]

Officine 83: new Abarth HQ leaves room for small-run specialty cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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