Abarth

Abarth & C. S.p.A. is a racing car and road car maker founded by Carlo Abarth in 1949. Its logo is a shield with a stylized scorpion on a red and yellow background. Abarth & C. S.p.A. is a fully owned subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A. (formerly Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.), the subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (formerly of Fiat S.p.A.) controlling its European automotive production activities.

History

1949: Abarth & C.

Carlo Abarth had been sporting director of the Cisitalia factory racing team since 1947. In 1948 begun the financial downfall of Cisitalia, spurred by the investments needed to put the 202 coupé into production; the following year the manufacturer went under, and founder Piero Dusio flew to Argentina. Carlo Abarth, funded by Armando Scagliarini, took over Cisitalia's assets and on 31 March 1949 Abarth & C. was founded in Bologna. Carlo's astrological sign, Scorpio, was chosen as the company logo. From the Cisitalia liquidation Abarth obtained five 204 sports cars (two complete Spiders and three unfinished), a D46 single seater and various spares. The 204s were immediately rechristened Abarth 204 A. Abarth built and raced sports cars developed from the last Cisitalia cars. In addition to Guido Scagliarini, the «Squadra Abarth» racing team lined up celebrated drivers such as Tazio Nuvolari, Franco Cortese and Piero Taruffi. Notably Tazio Nuvolari made his last appearance in racing at the wheel of an Abarth 204 A, winning its class in the Palermo–Monte pellegrino hillclimb on 10 April 1950. Alongside racing, the company main activity was producing and selling accessories and performance parts for Fiat, Lancia, Cisitalia and Simca cars, like inlet manifolds and silencers.

Abarth 205

The Abarth 205 was a coupe sports car built by Austrian born tuning expert Carlo Abarth between 1950 and 1951. Only three cars were ever built.

References

Fiat 500 (2007)

The Fiat 500 (Type 312) is a four-passenger, front-engine, front wheel drive city car manufactured and marketed by Fiat since 2007 in three-door hatchback and two-door cabriolet body styles over a single generation — and available in European markets beginning with model year 2016 with its first facelift.

Derived from the 2004 Fiat Trepiùno 3+1 concept designed by Roberto Giolito, the 500 features styling reminiscent of Fiat's original 1957 Fiat 500, nicknamed the Bambino— a model that was designed and engineered by Dante Giacosa and went on to sell more than four million copies over a production run of 18 years. Translated from concept to production design under the design direction of Frank Stephenson, the 2007 500 also features Dante Giacosa's 1964 breakthrough front-wheel drive breakthrough layout — which ultimately became an industry standard, the layout "adopted by virtually every other manufacturer in the world" for front-wheel drive

The 500 was announced on May 5, 2006, presented in images on March 20, 2007, and debuted on July 4, 2007, with 250,000 people in attendance and with new models prominently displayed in 30 Italian cities.