Fiat 124 Spider – MX-5 twin to spawn hotter Abarth?

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Even though the Mazda MX-5 won’t spawn a dedicated Abarth-badged sibling, its Italian twin – now destined to be called the Fiat 124 Spider – will still receive the famous scorpion emblem as a high-performance variant at some point in the future, according to Auto Express.

“You like performance? There will be an Abarth version,” said Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) chief operating officer Alfredo Altavilla, the company clearly taking an opposite tack to Mazda’s “no need for more power” policy for the MX-5.

Even the “comfortable” base car, slated to debut later in the year, is expected to be quite a departure from its Hiroshima cousin – it’s tipped to use the turbocharged 1.4 litre MultiAir engine from the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, in various states of tune. As for the more “extreme” Abarth, it should feature the 1.75 litre turbo mill from the Alfa 4C, detuned from 237 hp in the mid-engined sports car to somewhere around the 200 hp region.

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Altavilla added that Abarth will be focused on making more extreme performance variants instead of “warmed-over” Fiats, pointing to the recent hardcore 695 Biposto as an example.

“What I wanted to do with Biposto was mark a very clear cut with the past,” he said. “Abarth is all about performance and so I’ve told my team to stop working on colours and trims. Any new version of an Abarth car should deliver some sort of a performance enhancement, otherwise it is useless.”

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Jonathan Lee

After trying to pursue a career in product design, Jonathan Lee decided to make the sideways jump into the world of car journalism instead. He therefore appreciates the aesthetic appeal of a car, but for him, the driving experience is still second to none.

 

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