Abarth Releases Three New Models for 2012 (updated)

UPDATE: Images of the 695 Competizione, Punto Super Sport and 500 Cabrio Italia at the Frankfurt Motor Show added, 13.09.2011

When Fiat brought back the Abarth name a few years ago to denote its hottest of hot hatches, it was hard not be to a tad cynical. The Austrian-born Carlo Abarth was a god of small car tuning. Sure he worked on a few Porsches too, but when thinking about Abarth, the first thing that jumps to mind are small engines screaming in small cars.

The Abarth 500 and Abarth Punto have both been relatively successful, and now Fiat is bringing three new Abarth models to the Frankfurt Motor Show: the Abarth 500 Cabrio Italia, Abarth Punto Super Sport and Abarth 695 Competizione.

By far the hottest of the three is the 695 Competizione, which removes the rear seats, and tunes the 1.4 Turbo T-Jet 16v to develop more than 180hp. The car comes exclusively in Grigio Competizione Opaco, which is a silver matte. 

The 695 gets a host of sport equipment over even a standard Abarth 500. In place of the rear seats, Fiat installed a roll bar. The front seats are black leather with red Alcantara inserts and a carbon fiber shell. The steering wheel has a similar motif with black leather and red inserts. The car only comes with a five-speed automatic transmission with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. It gets 17in wheels, xenon headlights and 305mm Brembo brakes. It also gets a dual-mode exhaust that opens above 3000rpm to improve performance and the exhaust note. 

The Abarth 500 Cabrio Italia will be limited to 150 cars to celebrate 150 years of Italian Unification. It uses a version of the 1.4 Turbo T-Jet 16v tunes to 160hp and 230Nm of torque and comes with a five-speed manual transmission. The car an be ordered with Blu Abu Dhabi exclusively or white and black two-tone livery. The car takes 7.4 seconds to get from 0-100km/h and uses 6.5l/100km of petrol in the combined cycle.

The Cabrio Italia comes with leather seats and Fiat's Blue&Me navigation and Bluetooth unit. It also has 17in wheels with Brembo front brakes. 

The final new Abarth car, the Abarth Punto Super Sport, uses the same 1.4 liter engine as the rest of the Abarths but is tuned to 180hp and 270Nm. It accelerates to 100km/h in 7.5 seconds. The Punto Super Sport comes only in silver with matte black hood and roof with 18in wheels. The car gets the components of the Esseesse Abarth Koni kit as standard, which gets you better brakes and Koni FSD shocks. On the inside the Super Sport has a full leather interior and Fiat's Blue&Me navigation.

Fiat did not say when any of these cars would be available or how much they will cost. Expect more information when they are revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show.