By George Guimarães | 10/26/23 | Translated by Jorge Meditsch
The Fastback Abarth, newest Fiat’s sports division option, begans to sold at 70 brand dealers this Thursday, 10/26, promising to attract those who really want to have a sports car in the garage.
With the well-known 185 cv 1.3 turbo engine, the SUV reaches 100 km/h in just 7.6 seconds and 220 km/h. Nonetheless, the engines and performance fans should be impacted much more by the sound developed by Abarth for the SUV Coupé, emitted by two exhaust pipes.
A deep sound that, according to the division, should sound ‘like music” to the ears of this public that, at purchasing, takes on account especially performance, dynamic behavior and the aggressive look that, in the new version, is provided by a specific internal fitting and exclusive external features such as wheels, the spoiler on the trunk lid and the redesigned rear bumper.
Therefore, the Fastback Abarth is very satisfactory in the three aspects most desired by sporty model purchasers. A fourth one will surprise many and possibly attract customers less connected to the segment: the price.
The Abarth costs R$ 159,990.00 and will be the SUV Coupé top of the line, a position until now occupied by the Limited Edition Powered by Abarth, which also has a 1.3 turbo engine, but a 5% to 8% lower performance due to adjusts and new tuning of the suspension, steering and even throttle pedal.
Nevertheless, to make it the most expensive Fastback, the marketing department used a tactic increasingly common for cars from R$ 150 thousand to R$ 250 thousand. Over the last three months, there have been many price reductions in this range.
Fiat opted to reduce the price asked for the Limited Edition, that now costs R$ 154,490.00. It’s a difference of no less than R$ 8 thousand, about 5%.
Herlander Zola, Fiat and Abarth South America’s CEO, thinks the difference of only R$ 5,5 thousand between the two versions may cause some migration to the Abarthm, but even though there is space for a more discreet version that can deliver performance without calling the attention in the streets.
“The Fastback Abarth is a sports car in the right measure, not restricted to a small public as usually happens with sports cars offered in Brazil”, said the executive. He estimated the version monthly sales from 300 to 400 units, about 10% of the model’s mix. The Fastback reached the market one year ago and has three other versions with 1.0 turbo engine.
These sales numbers, if reached, would repeat the average volume of the Pulse Abarth, doubling the division’s sales in Brazil with close to 10 thousand units a year.
2024 Fastback lineup
– Turbo 200 AT: R$ 121,990.00
– Audace Turbo 200 Flex AT: R$ 138,990.00
– Impetus Turbo 200 Flex AT: R$ 150,990.00
– Limited Edition Powered by Abarth Turbo 270 Flex AT: R$ 154,490.00
– Abarth: R$ 159,990.00
From January through September, Fiat sold 61.5 thousand SUVs in Brazil – 32.4 Pulse and 29.1 Fastback – and is the third bestselling brand in the segment with an 11.1% share, after Volkswagen (17.9%) and Jeep (17.5%).
“It will be a great challenge to define where each brand will go”, said Zola, who leads the two Stellantis brands and also Jeep sales.
“But we have a solid growth strategy for Fiat in all segments, and the Abarth models play an important role in the process to build up the brand’s value started in 2017”.
Since then, Fiat has grown continually. After leading the market for more than a decade until 2015 and a sudden fall after the next year, the brand took the lead again only in 2021 and now has 22% of the sales and the 2023 year lead already, its third consecutive achievement.
Sports drive training
To present the Fastback Abarth to its target public, Fiat created the Abarth Racers Academy, a sports driving training event that includes sports drive and safety classes and intends to diffuse and improve Abarth’s sporty image in Brazil.
Current owners of the Pulse Abarth, the world’s first SUV with the skorpion brand and potential customers are being invited to participate on November 10, 11 and 12 at the Capuava Racetrack in Indaiatuba, SP.
Zola admits the idea of making the Racer Academy a perennial program in 2024, with at least four events in other racetracks.
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