2017 Abarth Track Experience

Abarth. A legend in the high performance and racing world. More than just fast cars with cool badges, they offer a heritage and pedigree that is up there in the upper level of the automotive pecking order. Abarth spends a great deal of time developing its car to offer a high standard of performance, so much that most will never come close on the street to what the car is capable of. To give owners of a new Abarth a glimpse of the full performance of their car, every new 500 and 124 Abarth comes with a track day driving event called the Abarth Track Experience.

New for 2017, the Abarth Track Experience will be hosted by the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. This replaces the Richard Petty Driving School that previously hosted the Abarth Experience since 2012. The new program is similar to the old one and features a one-day session of high-performance driving with professional instruction and time on the track. The most significant difference being in previous years, the event traveled across the country to different venues. The new program will be held at the the Bob Bondurant School located in ‎Phoenix, Arizona.

The Fiat Trackside program starts the day off with an introduction to the Fiat brand and classroom instruction and then moves to the track where participants will learn skid control, slalom, autocross and team rally cross skills. The day ends with hot laps, where owners ride shotgun while an instructor demonstrates some of the capability of an Abarth with some fast laps around the track.

There is also an optional second day “Road Rally” program that is a 180- to 220-mile rally that takes you for a drive along picturesque Arizona roads and includes a private lunch.

The new Fiat Trackside and Road Rally programs will be available beginning in November. Owners who purchase or lease a Fiat 124 Spider Abarth or 500 Abarth have one year to participate so make sure you visit the Abarth Experience website to see if your vehicle qualifies.

www.abarthexperience.com

More Articles about the Abarth Experience

Discuss on the Abarth Experience Forum

Source and images: FCA US LLC

Abarth Spider Racing Heritage Option Released

The Fiat 124 Spider Abarth configurator has finally been updated to show the optional matte black hood and trunk package. Abarth fans and enthusiast have been waiting for this configurator update ever since the car was announced back in March. Called the Racing Heritage Black Center Band, the $1995 option package consist of hand painted blacked out hood and trunk lids. The paint scheme pays homage to the original 1970s Fiat Abarth 124 Rally. The anti-glare kit on that car did double duty as glare reduction and thermal management to absorb underhood heat.

In Europe, the 124 Abarth is an exclusive, limited production car that costs €40,000 or nearly $45,000. Abarth models are shipped to Officine Abarth where the car gets the optional Racing Heritage painted panels along with the final touches like the installation of an Alcantara interior package, and a Record Monza exhaust in place of the standard Abarth exhaust.

In the US we pay $28,195 for our Abarth Spider, but it still gets the labor intensive, hand painted treatment that makes our car no less exclusive than its European cousin.



The involved process begins when Abarth Spiders are shipped from east and west coast ports to a central Custom Shop facility near Auburn Hills where it is dissembled, and then a master automotive painter applies the matte black paint using the hide the line paint technique that is typical of paint jobs on $100,000 show cars.

An interesting bit of trivia is originally this customization was going to take place on both east and west coast near the ports, but local environmental paint regulations precluded that. Having all the cars painted at one central location has quality control advantages as well as having parts availability at one place.

Look for the Fiat 124 Spider Abarth arriving at Fiat Studios late September and October.

While you are waiting for the Spider Abarth to arrive, read more below and make sure you check out the Fiat 124 Spider Forum for interesting discussions on the car.

Fiat 124 Spider Forum

Fiat 124 Spider Abarth Announced!

Driving The Fiat 124 Spider

Fiat 124 Spider Revised Engine Specs

2017 Fiat 124 Spider and Abarth Specs

Fiat Spider Abarth Features and Options

About the Fiat 124 Spider Elaborazione Abarth 

2017 Abarth 124 Spider Unveiled! (European version)

Images: Author and FCA US LLC
Update 5/19/2017: added video

Fiat Brand Sales for July 2016

Fiat sold a total of 2,754 cars in July, 210 cars more than the previous month, but lower than the 3,196 cars sold in July 2015. So far this year, the total of Fiats sold in the US comes in at 19,346, down 16 percent over last year's total of 23,118 for the same period.

Sales of the Fiat 500X were up slightly in July compared to last year.

Fiat Studios began receiving their initial shipments of the new 124 Spiders and recorded 480 sales of the new roadster. Inventory levels of the classy 124 Spider will be increasing during the summer, culminating with the arrival of the hi-performance Abarth model towards the end of the season.

August Deals
Fiat is holding a huge Summer Clearance Event this month. With offers up to $1,000s off of various models, low APRs and great lease deals, now is the time to get to your Fiat Studio and buy a car.  Even the Spider has an introductory offer, so don't miss it.

Contact your local Fiat Studio for more info or check out these top Studios:

Palmen FIAT of Kenosha, Wisconsin - 1-888-379-0295

FIAT of Larchmont, New York - 1-888-405-2249

Benson FIAT, South Carolina - 1-888-380-1716

July Fiat News
July 4th marked the 59th anniversary of the debut of the Fiat 500 in 1957. This year the annual party was held on the island of Capri to highlight the new, limited production 500 Riva model. Fiat teamed up with Riva, the famous Italian maker of luxury yachts, to create the special edition 500 Riva.

Fiat 500 Celebrates Birthday

Last month we talked about driving the new Fiat 124 Spider and its cousin, the Spider Abarth. The new Spider is the modern-day interpretation of the classic 124 Sport Spider introduced to the world 50 years ago. The links below tell you everything you want to know about the Spider, plus make sure you visit the Spider forum, where you will find a lot of interesting discussions.

Driving The Fiat 124 Spider

Fiat 124 Spider Articles

Fiat 124 Spider Forums

July also was the month the Fiat Club America held its annual convention called the Fiat FreakOut. This year, the Fiat FreakOut was held near Fiat Chrysler Automobile headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan and was a great success. Fiat enthusiasts from all over the country made their way to the venue. Here is a look at our trip.

On the Way to 2016 Fiat FreakOut

Fiat Brand Sales in the United States, January - July 2016

Fiat 500	Current Month	Last Year 2015	Vol Change	Current YTD Total	Last Year YTD Total	Change  %
July 500 500L 500X 124	1,097      227      950     480     2,754	1,940    314     942     0   3,196	-43%    -28%    1%     New    -14%	8,857     2,527     7,481     481     19,346	15,880        6,020         1,218        0       23,118	-44%    -58%    514    New    -16%
June 500 500L 500X 124	1,113      274     1,156     1     2,544	2,283    530     324     0   3,137	-51%    -48%    257     New    -19%	7,932     2,338     7,464     1     17,735	15,390        6,076          332         0       21,798	-48%    -62%    2148    New    -19%
May 500 500L 500X	1,553      334     1,250     3,137	2,614    1,245      8   3,867	-41%    -73%  15K    -19%	6,819     2,064     6,308     15,911	13,107        5,546          8       18,661	-48%    -63%    7.9K    -19%
April 500 500L 500X	1,488      463     1,094     3,045	2,498    1,258      0   3,756	-40%    -63%     New    -19%	5,266     1,730     5,058     12,054	10,493        4,301         0       14,794	-50%    -60%    New    -19%
Mar 500 500L 500X	1,490      533     1,399     3,422	3,276    1,218      0   4,494	-55%    -56%     New    -24%	3,778     1,267     3,964     9,009	7,995        3,043          0       11,038	-53%    -58%    New    -18%
Feb 500 500L 500X	1,081      365     1,547     2,993	2,333    956      0   3,289	-54%    -62%     New    -9%	2,288      734     2,565     5,587	4,719        1,825         0        6,544	-52%    -60%    New    -15%
Jan 500 500L 500X	1,207      369     1,018     2,594	2,386    869      0   3,255	-49%    -58%     New    -20%	1,207      369     1,018     2,594	2,386        869          0       3,255	-49%    -58%    New    -20%

Fiat Sales Archives - All Fiat sales figures since the beginning

Figures and sources: FCA US LLC,
Images: FCA US LLC and author