Baby Supercar: Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed)
Sep 12th 2009 at 11:01AM

At polar ends of the vastly expanding Fiat empire sit the Italian auto industry's sportiest, most performance-oriented marques: Abarth at one end, with its turbocharged little hatchbacks, and Ferrari at the other, with its fire-breathing exotic supercars. But now the two companies have come together for an exclusive project using the base from one as a tribute to the other.

Called the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari, it's essentially a Fiat 500 at heart, but tuned by engineers at Abarth and Ferrari to transform into another beast entirely. The eye-catching red paintjob with grey stripes mimics the Ferrari 430 Scuderia. Inside, watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre has fitted special instruments, and Sabelt has crafted special bucket seats. Under the hood, the turbocharged 1.4-liter 16-valve engine has been tuned by the collaborating engineers to produce over 180 horsepower, with a variable exhaust system and a paddle-shifted automated manual transmission. Brembo brakes hide behind 17" competition-spec wheels. And while it may not be the baby Ferrari some people have been waiting for, it's the closest some might get.

Gallery: Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari