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October 8, 2018

Abarth Brings Italian Flair to Hot Hatch Market (w/ Specs)


After a year operating a pop-up store in Pasay City, Abarth, FIAT’s sporting brand, enters the Philippine market with a new showroom located at Bonaventure Plaza in Greenhills, San Juan. Sold by Petromax Enterprise, the same entity that brings in Alfa Romeo, Abarth showed off four versions of its 595 range all embodying the Scorpion brand’s unique blend of performance and style.

Based off the head-turning FIAT 500, all models in the Abarth 595 range have special features that reassert their sporty nature and boosted performance. For example, the front-end was redesigned with a much larger air scoop to improve heat management and increase cooling capacity by 18 percent. This is then matched by the pronounced extractor on the rear bumper as well as unique body color combinations for each trim level. All models have poly-elliptical headlights and LED daytime running lights as standard equipment.


Inside, there’s a flat-bottomed steering wheel with crosshair inserts and generous use of technical material such as carbon and Alcantara. The dashboard trim, one of the most iconic elements of the 595, is customized for each variant. For example, it’s body-colored on the 595, matte gray on the 595 Turismo, and Tar Cold Gray on the 595 Competizione.

The Abarth 595 kicks off the line-up and packs a 145-horsepower 1.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. The standard transmission is a 5-speed manual, but buyers can opt to go with a 5-speed semi-automatic MTA transmission. The benchmark 0-100 km/h is dispatched in 7.8 seconds. Its performance-oriented nature is backed up by its beefed-up suspension. The front features Frequency Selective Damping technology while the rear’s Torsion Beam setup has been beefed up over 300 percent compared to the regular FIAT 500. At each corner resides 195/45R16 tires.

Pricing for the Abarth 595 MT is at P 2,690,000 while the MTA is at P 2,760,000.


Moving up, there’s the Abarth 595 Turismo. Balancing high-performance and comfort in a hot hatchback, the 595 Turismo comes with a 5-speed MTA transmission. It has the same 1.4-liter turbocharged engine but offers more power: 165 horsepower. This drops the 0-100 km/h time to 7.4 seconds. Larger 205/40R17 tires keep the power in check while inside, it offers leather upholstery and other niceties such as automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, and parking sensors for a more luxurious look and feel.


Pricing for the Abarth 595 Turismo starts at P 2,990,000. For those who want the hatchback, the 595 Turismo C comes in at P 3,190,000.


Finally, there’s the 595 Competizione and 695 Rivale.

The 595 Compeitizione is Abarth’s so-called “pinnacle of performance.” It delivers 180 horsepower from the same 1.4-liter turbocharged engine, dropping the 0-100 km/h time to just 6.7 seconds. Keeping the Competizione’s high-strung character, it’s available with a mechanical self-locking differential, oversized Brembo brakes, and Koni FSD shock absorbers for both the front and back.

A highly recommended option is the Record Monza exhaust. Using an active valve controlled by a Sport button on the dashboard, the driver can choose either a genteel-sounded exhaust or something that sounds bolder and sportier—more akin to traditional Abarth.



For those who prefer more traditional forms of entertainment, the 595 Competizione has a Beats Audio system. Done in collaboration with Beats by Dr. Dre, the 7-speaker system delivers 480 watts of power fed through a digital 8-channel amplifier. The Beats Audio sound system has two dome tweeters installed in the front pillars, two 165-millimeter mid-woofers in the front doors, two full-range 165-millimeter speakers in the rear side panels and one 200-millimeter subwoofer in the middle of the boot in the spare wheel compartment.

Pricing for the Abarth 595 Competizione starts at P 3,230,000 for the MT, P 3,300,000 for the MTA, and P 3,490,000 for the MTA Convertible.



Also sharing the same 180-horsepower engine, the 695 Rivale is a special-edition model designed in partnership with Riva—the iconic Italian yacht builder. It’s the most sophisticated of Abarth’s creations and blends hot hatch performance with supercar-levels of premium materials. It uses a mahogany dashboard as well as mahogany trims on the steering wheel, shift knob, and kick plates.

The Abarth 695 Rivale is also automatically registered in the elite Abarth Register—an elite list of models that includes only cars with collectable technical or historical features.

Pricing for the limited-edition Abarth 695 Rivale is at P 3,590,000.


Like Petromax Enterprise’s arrangement with Alfa Romeo, a reservation fee of 10 percent is required to secure the unit. Delivery is one week upon the confirmation of availability of the desired unit. All Abarth models come with a 2-year or 50,000-kilometer warranty whichever comes first.

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