Abarth, the automotive company founded in 1949 in Bologna, Italy, and part of the Stellantis galaxy, has just announced that after 75 years of developing high-performance combustion engine cars, it will abandon this technology to focus exclusively on electric vehicles. Thus, after declaring that there won’t be a high-performance 500 Ibrida and hinting at the possibility of a sporty Grande Panda, the latter, if it comes, will be exclusively electric.
Abarth gives up on combustion engine cars and will focus only on electric vehicles
New emission regulations are pushing even brands historically tied to gasoline engines, like Abarth, to change course and embrace electric motors. This change of direction was announced by Gaetano Thorel, European head of Fiat and Abarth, saying in a recent interview that they will no longer develop combustion cars and that all their new models coming to market will be exclusively electric.
Among the reasons, Thorel indicated that the development costs for gasoline engines have become too high: “If you produce a sporty combustion hatch that emits 180 g/km and you’re in Italy, you have to pay between 1,000 and 2,000 euros in annual road tax. This is also why I believe it’s better to switch to electric cars.”
Thorel also ruled out hybrid technology, as it would be technically limited and would therefore compromise the brand’s DNA. For this reason, Abarth will not launch a sporty version of the 500 Ibrida, which will arrive on the market by the end of 2025.
Matching the performance offered by the Abarth 600e would be complicated with a hybrid system. Its most powerful variant, the Scorpionissima, delivers 207 kW (280 HP) and 345 Nm of torque, propelling it from 0 to 100 km/h in just 5.8 seconds. However, many fear that this model, like the Abarth 500e, will be a flop precisely because of its electric nature.