Car Moon

Abarth is marking its return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the second year in a row with the 500-based 695 Tributo Ferrari. A 1.388 cc turbocharged 4-cylinder engine delivering 180 PS at 5,500 rpm and 250 Nm of torque at 3,000 rpm powers the spirited city car with the Ferrari badges. Read more »

What happens when two people who share their passion for sports cars and motorbikes meet under the right circumstances? It depends, but if we ‘re talking about two Italians, Alessio Minchella (designer) and Alessandro Camorali (surface and product development) who met in 2010 while working at Pininfarina, the result is a new company, Camal, and a new product. Read more »

If there is one television crew that is almost impossible to go by unnoticed (at least by the male population) anywhere they go in the world, it is the hosts of BBC’s widely popular Top Gear program. This time, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond were spotted in the medieval town of Lucca in Tuscany, central Italy. Read more »

There are tuners and there are tuners with some taking the easy way out going for a quick fix while others take up the challenge to create something truly unique. Italy’s Lucarelli-Monza belongs to the second category of tuners. The Monza-based tuning house has revealed details on its newest creation called the 500 Abarth Motore Centrale R230.

As its name implies, the heavily modified Italian hatchback gains a new layout with a mid-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive. Of course, such a radical change is not an easy task with the company having to re-engineer the entire vehicle.

Among other changes, the rear seats of the production model were dropped to create space for the engine while there’s also a new rear suspension set-up and a high-performance braking system with 335mm front- and 305mm rear- discs coupled with four-piston calipers.

If the rumors are true, Fiat's Abarth division may soon get its own version of the Alfa Romeo 4C mid-engined coupe, but for now, fans will have to make do with the SCORP-ION sports coupe study that was unwrapped at this week's Geneva Motor Show.

The SCORP-ION is a conceptual proposal for an environment-friendly sports car designed by the students of the Master of Arts in Transportation Design at the Istituto Europeo di Design of Turin (IED) and constructed in cooperation with Abarth. The strictly two-seater study measures 4.01 meters long and is powered by four electric motors, one on each wheel. Check out the video from the Geneva Show presentation after the break.

Even though Fiat executives have been coy on a stand-alone sports car for the Abarth brand, the Italian firm went ahead and collaborated with the Istituto Europeo di Design of Turin (IED) for the creation of design study that will receive its grand premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in about a week's time.

The sports coupe is named Abarth Scorp-Ion and it was designed by seven IED students who worked under the supervision of designers Luca Borgogno from Pininfarina, and Luigi Giampaolo from Maserati.

The goal was to design a bespoke compact-sized sports car with lines that evoke the scorpion (the official symbol of Abarth) without any references to the Fiat brand, with which Abarth is often identified.

This here is the actual, factual Fiat Abarth 500 Gulf Limited Edition special in the flesh, photographed at the Autopolis Fiat dealership in Luxembourg. We say this because yesterday, we reported on the limited run special and Fiat's photoshoped picture that made the internet rounds. While our friends from Auto55 and Autofans verified the story with the official press release, we were left wondering what the Italian mini with the classic racing-livery would look like in real life.

Today, our pondering came to an end as the Marketing and Communications director of Autopolis Luxembourg dropped the first real life shots of the car in our mailbox. We believe Fiat should have released these photos instead of the 'chop from the beginning, but we'll give them props for keeping a close eye on the web-o-sphere and swiftly reacting to our post.

We've received several e-mails tipping us off on a new limited edition version of the Fiat Abarth 500 Essesse dressed in the Gulf racing livery, which will reportedly be offered exclusively in Luxembourg in a limited run of 10 cars priced at €25,000 (plus VAT) a piece. While we appreciate all tips sent in, that doesn't mean we aren't going to -or at least try our best to- perform a background check and either confirm or debunk a story.

In this case, we didn't find a press announcement, but that doesn't necessarily mean the story is not true. However, the picture that has been floating around on several websites has definitely been doctored, and we say this not only because the colors are off, but mainly because we found the original image. Hoax or not, we must say that the 500 Abarth looks awesomely cool in those traditional racing colors.

*Update 1: Un point to the folks at Auto55 for sending in the official press release from Fiat Belgium (added after the jump) confirming the Gulf model - but not the photo, as we've already proved.

*Update 2: The guys from Autofan e-mailed the press photo in its original compression. Apparently, Fiat mastered the photoshoped image...

An incredibly wealthy Chinese businessman has commissioned Italian tuning firm Fenice Milano to build a one-of-a-kind Fiat 500 Convertible Abarth inspired by the 'La Dolce Vita' concept study we first showed you back in October 2010. The bespoke 500 C Abarth is named "La Dolce Vita Gold and Diamonds 200hp" and according to Fenice Milano, the car will cost a breathtaking €500,000 or about US$666,000 at current exchange rates.

The starting point of the build is a Fiat 500 Convertible Abarth. As the car's name suggests, at the unnamed client's request, there is abundant use of gold. On the outside, the golden pearlescent white painting includes 24K gold particles while the precious material also adorns the body trim and wheels. The electric fabric roof top is finished in black.

Apparently, Italian tuning firm Romeo Ferraris believes that the Fiat 500 is a dish best served with lots of power. Named after the legendary Italian circuit, the 500 Abarth Monza is a limited edition Fiat on steroids sporting extensive engine and styling modifications.

Tuning firms Hamman and H&R have joined forces to create a monster out of the Fiat 500 Abarth with an insane power boost to 275-horsepower.

Beginning with the engine bay, Hamann's engineers used forged pistons, enhanced connection rods, new camshafts and a modified turbocharger to increase the 1.4-liter petrol unit's peak output to an impressive 275 hp and 380 Nm (280 lb-ft) of torque. That's 196.4 hp/liter, more than double of what is considered to be an excellent ratio.

If you feel the regular Abarth 500C could benefit from a few more ponies under the hood, Fiat's performance division has the answer in the form of the Esseesse edition. The tuning package bumps output of the standard 1.4-liter turbocharged engine from 140HP and 206Nm to 160HP and 230Nm, respectively.

Fiat's Abarth division is expanding its range with the launch of the esseesse tuning kits for the new Abarth 500C (convertible) and Abarth Punto Evo models at this month's Paris Auto Show. While Abarth is withholding most details on the "esseesse" packages that are designed improve the cars' performance, handling and styling, the Italian company did release info on the power upgrades.

One of the perks of being an F1 driver for an automaker is that you get a lot of free stuff, including cars - not because white collar execs love you, but because they want to milk every single ounce of fame out of you. In the case of human billboards Ferrari team drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, aside from those lovely gas station employee-like hats and polos, they also get their pick of cars from the Fiat Group.

While we're all for special / limited edition models, we can't help but scratch our heads after learning that the Fiat Group's Abarth 695 Ridicolo Tributo Ferrari has been launched in Spain with a price tag that starts at -hold on to something- €46,339, or about US$58,900 at the current exchange rates! Talk about paying tribute to Maranello...

And before you say "oh, Spain might have high taxes on cars", or something along those lines, we checked out some local prices on various sports models, and let's just say that you can buy a brand-new Nissan 370Z and still be left with a LOT of pocket change. Tell us what you think in the comments section after the jump

The Fiat 500-based, Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari, is possibly the closest we'll ever get to a baby model from the company with the Prancing Horse logo. And now, almost a year after its world premiere at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show in Germany, Fiat has confirmed UK availability.

Only 152 examples of the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari will be available in right hand drive form in Britain, each carrying a steep price tag of £29,600, which comes to around €35,500 or US$46,900 at today's exchange rates. That's roughly what you'd pay for a BMW 135i Coupe M Sport (£30,675) in the UK.

The new Abarth 500C will cost from £17,500 OTR and the Abarth Punto Evo from £16,500 OTR, Fiat's UK arm announced. Both models will make their UK public debuts at this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed, before going on sale in Britain from Saturday 17 July.

The semi-convertible Abarth 500C is motivated by a 140HP 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which provides a top speed of 127mph and a 0-62mph (100km/h) time of 8.1 seconds, while returning 43mpg UK on the combined cycle.

German tuning firm Pogea Racing believes that there's something fundamentally wrong about a hot hatch carrying the Ferrari nameplate that's powered by an engine producing only 165-ponies . So the tuner decided to do something about it.

The car in question is the extremely rare Fiat 500 Abarth Ferrari Dealers Edition (there's also a non-Abarth model). Starting with the stock engine, Pogea Racing upgraded the 1.4-liter turbocharged unit with a larger turbocharger and intercoolers, new exhaust system, modified downpipe, new catalytic converter and recalibrated ECU.

The result? Output has been inflated from 165HP to 268HP, with torque climbing from 230Nm to 330Nm / 243.4 lb-ft.

In the next few days, the new Abarth 500C will go on sale first in Italy and shortly after in the rest of Europe, so Fiat decided to drop a huge photo gallery of its newest model that had its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show this past March.

Aside from the male population looking for a relatively affordable cabrio with some punch, Fiat claims that the new open-topped car was also made to appeal to women customers "who seek design and elegance but also appreciate the performance of a true sports car."

That's one of the reasons why the Abarth 500C is offered with a choice of two colors for the electrically operated rollover canvas top (black or titanium gray) ,and for the first time on the 500 series, optional two-tone paintworks for the body (racing black and white or two tones of gray).

A few months after the premiere of the (facelifted) Punto EVO, and Abarth has announced that it has prepared its own version of the three-door supermini packing a 1.4 liter turbocharged Multiair four-banger that will debut alongside the souped-up 500C that we told you about earlier today at next week's Geneva Motor Show.

Fiat's performance division has sourced a larger turbocharger from Garrett in order to lift output to 165-horsepower and 250Nm of torque (at 2,250 RPM). 100 km/h rolls by you in 7.9 seconds, meaning there's got to be more than just a power boost to make this worthy of the Abarth name. And there is.