Fiat Abarth

It's loud and offbeat, and more importantly, it's still a ton of fun.

There are now 1.1 million examples of the new Fiat 500 cruising the roads of 83 countries, one million of them made at the Fiat's Tychy plant in Poland, the rest in the Fiat plant in Toluca, Mexico. It's taken 69 months since the car's 2007 launch to reach the milestone, the capstone hatchback being an Abarth 500.

Fiat brought out two new design concepts at the Detroit Auto Show, both intended to expand the appeal of its 500 Turbo and 500 Abarth models with upgraded and unique appointments inside and out.

What a pleasant little piece of plug-and-play. Putting the Fiat 500c's retractable roof on the hot 500 Abarth was pretty much a no-brainer, and hey, we certainly aren't complaining. Folding the soft top back on the little hatchback will only allow us to better hear that awesome exhaust note while we're burying the throttle. And come on, who doesn't like a little wind-in-your-hair action?

The 2013 Fiat 500C Abarth is debuting in the City of Angels. It's the super-tuned version of the 500C combining all the best of fresh-air motoring and heightened performance from the scorpion-badged marque. As with the vanilla 500C, the Abarth's folding canvas roof opens all the way at up to 50 miles per hour, and will slide back to the rear spoiler at up to 60 mph.

Customization programs are nothing new in the auto industry. For a fee, they offer a chance to work directly with the manufacturer to create a one-of-a-kind vehicle for the customer. These programs, however, are usually offered by makers of the most exotic, expensive and exclusive vehicles, like Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and Porsche. It's not often that a

Shelby isn't the only company celebrating a major anniversary in Monterey this year. Lamborghini marked its 50th year in business, and the 2012 Concorso Italiano is packed with Raging Bulls from every era of company's history. While the show serves as a showcase for all Italian makes,

Before you get too excited about these special Abarth models, understand that these are for the UK and we're not getting them, at least not yet – maybe we'll see it Stateside if Fiat sales need an injection next year...

As you can see from the screen grab above, some people get to have all the fun. Jay Leno, who owns more cars than you will ever drive in your lifetime, was graced with the presence of a Fiat 500 Abarth at his garage.

Eager to get your hands on the 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth? Get in line, and be warned: you're going to have to wait.

The Fiat 500 in its various guises positively romps on its popularity, making special-edition hay with terrific frequency. This latest outing in the form of the Abarth 695 Maserati Edition follows a familiar trail, coming three years after the Jonathon Ramsey

Ah, Catrinel Menghia. Fiat knows a good thing when it finds one, and so it's no surprise to see a trio of new advertisements staring the Romanian-born and Italian-speaking model alongside the 2012 500 Abarth.

What do you do when you want to cast your cute little city car as a truly bad ass performance machine? How about hiring an infamous drug enthusiast actor, a guy who insists he has "tiger blood" flowing through his veins?

The Fiat group has a knack for (or a habit of) dressing up its most affordable hatchbacks in tribute to its most expensive exotics. Alfa Romeo did a special MiTo and Giu

There's a part of us that wishes the automotive industry were packed with more eccentric characters like Lapo Elkann. The rakish heir to the Fiat empire (and possible future president of Ferrari) is anything but dull, Noah Joseph

The Abarth 695 was originally intended as a Fiat 500-based tribute to Ferrari. Hence the 695 Tributo Ferrari moniker. But this one looks more like a salute to McLaren.

Fiat has announced that the 2012 500 Abarth will be priced from $22,000, *not including destination charges. That's a healthy jump from the tiny Italian's $15,500 base MSRP and higher still than the open-air 500C that starts at $19,500. For all that extra lira, buyers get Fiat's turbocharge

How many sports cars can one automotive group offer? Just ask the people at Volkswagen, whose various divisions – Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, Audi – churn them out like you and I would write Christmas cards. (Or Hannukah cards, anyway.) And the <

There's no question that Fiat's "Seduction" ad was a big success. Launched just a few weeks ago to coincide with the North American debut of the Fiat 500 Abarth, the minute-long commercial quickly went viral to amass over two million views. And with good reason. The spot's got ever