Fiat Abarth 600e Gets 240 HP, The Most Of Any Abarth Ever

It was only a matter of time before the cute Fiat 600 got a sportier Abarth version. And here it is, the Abarth 600e, the most powerful car to come from the long-running Italian brand.

Abarth didn't confirm a ton of details in announcing the 600e, but did say that the EV makes 240 horsepower. That's a solid 85 hp increase over the smaller, 155-hp Abarth 500e. The Abarth 600e launches with the limited Scorpionissima edition, featuring a vivid coat of Hypersonic Purple paint. Abarth will build 1,949 examples of the 600e Scorpionissima in honor of the 75th anniversary of the company's founding year. 

Other upgrades include wider tires on 20-inch wheels, a beefed-up braking system, and a mechanical limited-slip differential. And in typical flamboyant Abarth fashion there's a large "Abarth" decal just above the side sills and a neon-green-accented scorpion logo on the front fender. 

This is not the first Abarth Seicento, though. Back in the 1950s and 1960s when Abarth was still an independent tuning and motorsports firm, it used the original Fiat 600 as a basis for a number of fascinating models. Some used modified 600 bodies with larger-displacement engines, while others, like the Fiat-Abarth 750, sported streamlined coachwork from Zagato.

Cool though the new Abarth 600e is, don't expect to see it in the US. While Fiat will bring the 500e EV here, it hasn't announced plans to do the same with the 600e.