Abarth has built the brand's last car with a combustion engine. Rising taxes are to blame.
Abarth, which has been modifying Fiat cars with internal combustion engines for decades, has decided to put it to rest.
Boosted already told that in February. But now there is a little more news in the matter.
In the future, if it survives, the brand will no longer build cars with powerful petrol engines.
The decision has been taken by the Abarth management due to rising taxes on cars with internal combustion engines in Europe, which make it less attractive for customers to own these corvettes as new.
Gaetano Thorel, who heads Fiat and Abarth in Europe, elaborated on the decision in an interview with Autocar .
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He highlights that in Italy owners of a car that emits 180 g of COâ‚‚ per kilometre, annual fees of between 7,500 and 15,000 Danish kroner.
In comparison, there are no corresponding charges for electric cars, which, according to Thorel, also offer equivalent performance without significant compromises.
Against this background, Abarth has concluded that the future of the brand lies in electric cars. All future models from Abarth will therefore be fully electric. Although Fiat plans a hybrid version of its latest 500 model in 2026, Abarth will not develop a high-performance version of it.
Thorel explains that hybrids are considered technologically insufficient in relation to Abarth's ambitions. The small combustion engine that the hybrid model will be equipped with will not be able to perform enough to carry the brand's sporty image.
There are also no plans to develop an entirely new dedicated Abarth model. Instead, the brand will continue to build on existing Fiat models, as they have done historically.
After the launch of electric versions of the Fiat 500e and 600e, the next step is likely to be an electric model based on a larger Panda variant, which is expected to be introduced in 2027.
At the same time, Stellantis' director, Carlos Tavares, has made it clear that several of the group's less successful car brands have limited time to prove their worth.
Although he did not mention Abarth specifically, he has indicated that major decisions will be made on those brands within the next few years.
Meanwhile, brands such as Maserati and Lancia are guaranteed financial support until 2026, meaning drastic changes are unlikely to happen until 2027 at the earliest.
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