A little over a week
after it was revealled that the Abarth 500 will not only
make its long anticipated arrival in Australia in March
but it will also be coming the higher power esssesse
version, the Australian Abarth importer has announced
that the first shipment is already sold out and they are
now half way through selling the second shipment, due in
April, despite the fact that prices have yet to be
announced.
"While we are amazed by the demand for the Abarth 500
esseesse, it isn’t a huge surprise," says Andrei Zaitzev,
General Manager for Abarth in Australia. "The Abarth
500’s Australian arrival was delayed by demand in
Europe, which meant that there was already pent-up
demand here. The announcement that we would launch with
the rare, high performance esseesse version sent an
extra rush of people to our dealerships wanting to be
amongst the first on the road in an Abarth 500. We have
had customers trying, for example, to buy a car in as
many as four separate places, something that is by no
means unusual!"
Compared to the car on
sale in Australian on which it is based, the Fiat 500,
which has 100 bhp (74 kW) on offer, the Abarth 500 when
fitted with the esseesse kit boasts 160 bhp (118 kW),
which is enough to slash the time taken for the 100 km/h
dash from 10.5 seconds to just 7.4 seconds while top
speed leaps from 182 km/h to 211 km/h. Fuel consumption
meanwhile on the combined cycle rises by just 0.2 of a
litre per 100 km, from 6.3 to 6.5 litres per 100 km.
"This unique
combination of giant slaying performance and
environmental ability thanks to low fuel consumption and
excellent CO2 emissions really makes it a sports car for
the 21st century – a little devil with a green heart,"
says Mr Zaitzev.
Despite its efficient
fuel economy performance, looking at the Abarth 500
esseesse there is no doubting its performance intent.
The wheels enlarged from the standard car’s 15 inches to
17 inches, cross drilled brake discs front and rear, the
aggressively lowered suspension that transforms the 500
from chic city car to urban tearaway. The ‘look at me
and watch out’ attitude is completed by the famous
Abarth badge with its black scorpion symbol leaving no
doubt what this little car is all about.
"A little over 50
years ago Carlo Abarth changed the rules for performance
with the original Abarth 500 on and off the race track
when it was launched in 1957," says Mr Zaitzev. "The new
Abarth 500 esseesse has proven in Europe to have been
even more successful than its illustrious ancestor and
now, here in Australia, it is clear that the same demand
driven by performance and style has created a unique
level of 'I want it now' interest from customers. And
considering the interest that there was and continues to
be in the normal 500, this really is saying something!"
Full Australian pricing and specification for the Abarth
500 esseesse will be announced when deliveries start in
March 2011.
