Alfa Romeo Models To Get Abarth Treatment

Known best for its work with Fiat, preparing performance versions of the Italian company's cars, racing outfit Abarth will soon turn its hand to another Fiat-owned badge: Alfa Romeo.

Speaking with British magazine Autocar this week, Abarth marketing boss Antonino Labate said that sales of the Fiat 500 Abarth and Punto Abarth - totaling around 22,000 units - have inspired Fiat's top brass to expand the specialist badge to the Alfa Romeo brand.

"We won’t be working with the Mito since Alfa already has the Cloverleaf, but there are lots of other possibilities,” Labate said.

The news follows confirmation last week that Abarth will soon reveal its own production-ready coupe, although details of the new model remain under tight wraps.

In Australia, the Fiat 500 Abarth has missed yet another promised launch date, following comments from importer Ateco's Edward Rowe earlier this year that the 99kW hot hatch would arrive in June.

“It’s a supply issue, more than anything else. The Fiat 500 is proving to be quite popular in Europe, and with the Poland assembly plant working at capacity to keep up with demand, we’ve had to push back the Abarth’s arrival in Australia,” Mr Rowe said in February.