Fiat 500 Turbo arrives for the US

The Fiat 500 Turbo has made its debut at Concorso Italiano in Monterey, California, effectively a US version of the Abarth 500.

Last month we had a spot of the Fiat 500 Turbo in a commercial Fiat had shot for the 500 range, and it’s made its official debut this weekend at the Concorso Italiano in Monterey, California.

The Fiat 500 T is really what we think of as the Abarth 500, a pimped 500 with 135bhp and some aggressive body changes, designed to sit below the Fiat 500 Abarth in the States.

Because the Fiat 500 Abarth the US gets is really what we think of as the Abarth EsseEsse (or, now Fiat has had a play with the 500 range, the Abarth 595) and was really a too expensive entry-point to Fiat 500 performance.

So Fiat has taken the European Abarth 500 and badged it as the 500 Turbo. Throw in a  revised nose and side skirts and 16″ alloys, a few tweaks to the inside and you have the sport entry point for the 500 in the US at $19.5k, $2.5k less than the Abarth 500.

Whether a $2.5k drop in the entry price for Fiat 500 performance will be enough to see the new Fiat 500 Turbo flying out of showrooms in the US remains to be seen.

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