Car And GPS (1858)

Fiat Grande Punto Abarth announced

The sporting brand returns

28 February 2007 19:20 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Fiat is relaunching one of the motor industry’s legendary performance and sporting car brands at next week’s Geneva International Motor Show.

The wraps are coming off the new Grande Punto Abarth, the first of a new range of high performance and sporting Fiats, as well as performance and sporting kits for the Fiat range, and merchandise.

Founded in 1949 by Carlo Abarth, the Abarth company produced classic sporting versions of key Fiat models and ran racing teams that were dominant forces on both the race track and on rally stages – all branded with the classic scorpion badge.

The Grande Punto Abarth will come with a 1.4 Turbo petrol engine that delivers 155bhp when using super unleaded fuel. An aftermarket booster kit will up the power to 180bhp – that’s three times more power than an entry-level Punto.