Electric Abarth 500e Scorpionissima Edition on sale – it’s NOT cheap

The Abarth take on the Fiat 500e – the Abarth 500e – is now on sale in the UK as a launch edition Scorpionissima Edition.

Back in November, Abarth revealed their take on the electric Fiat 500e – unsurprisingly named the Abarth 500e – complete with Abarth titivations and 152bhp from its electric motor, but with the same 42kWh battery as the Fiat 500e it means range drops to a rather disappointing 140 miles.

Now, the Abarth 500e Scorpionissima Edition officially goes on sale in the UK as the Abarth 500e’s launch model with 1,949 units on offer and around 1,500 already pre-ordered. Despite a price tag in the UK for the Scorpionissima of £38,695. Yes, you read that right – almost £40k.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, £40k for a titivated Fiat 500 – even an electric Fiat 500 – is completely mad.

When the Fiat Abarth 500 (as it was then called) went on sale in the UK in 2009 it came with a 135bhp 1.4 turbo ICE and managed 0-60 in 7.9 seconds. The Abarth 500e gets 152bhp and 0-62mph in 7.0 seconds, so not a huge improvement.

But when the Abarth 500 arrived, it cost £13,600 which, according to the Bank of England, is £19,865 today accounting for inflation, making the new Abarth 500e twice as expensive in real terms as the original Fiat Abarth 500e.

But, if you have pockets deep enough not to care about value, you can now order the 500e Scorpionissima Edition and expect it to arrive in the summer.