The storied history of Abarth’s racing spirit retold

The legend of the Scorpion brand started on March 31, 1949 when Carlo Abarth (1908-1979) founded Abarth & C. with driver Guido Scagliarini.

The first vehicle produced was a 204 A, based on the Fiat 1100, which immediately won the 1100 Sport Italian championship and the Formula 2 racing title.

Since then, the history of Abarth has been full of racing and industrial records, always in the spirit of the founder to combine maximum performance, craftsmanship and constant technical progress.

Thanks to the extraordinary achievements of the Abarth 124 Rally, the international public is now again enjoying all the thrills and excitement which originated in the mid 50s when, further to an ever-closer partnership with Fiat, the Scorpion brand’s motor sports legend began: 10 world records, 133 international records and more than 10 000 track victories.

And the list of Abarth cars that have gone down in motor sports history is truly a long one: from the streamlined record-breaking cars built in association with Turin’s top coachbuilders on Fiat-derived models, to the 850 TC, which won on all the international circuits, including the Nürburgring, and the 2300 S, which set an amazing series of records on the Monza track.

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From 1971 Abarth was wholly owned by Fiat Auto, and the legend was continued by the Fiat 124 Abarth, winner of the 1975 European title, the 131 Abarth, 1980 world rally champion, and Ritmo Abarth.

Although these triumphs, firmly ensconced in the collective imagination, are impressive in their own right, the importance of racing has always been much broader for Abarth’s engineers and technical experts: it provides a gruelling testing bed, offering the harshest conditions for trying out the most innovative technologies, ready for transfer to the Abarth road cars.

This is the only route to achieving the very best in terms of performance, safety and reliability. The two new entries presented in Geneva are no exception and are sure to help to consolidate the sales success achieved in 2018, when the brand recorded its best-ever European sales, with almost 23 500 units registered and growth of 36,5% compared to 2017.

The results were particularly outstanding on some markets: for example, in Great Britain Abarth set its national record with 5 600 units sold and growth of 27%, while in Spain it sold 1 450 units, representing growth of 27%.

What’s more, in Europe the brand’s fan base is expanding at a dizzying rate, with more than 100 000 fans registered in the Abarth Scorpionship community.

To celebrate these achievements, as well as the historic birthday, the brand has launched the Abarth “70th Anniversary” range, comprising the Abarth 595, Abarth 124 and from today the Abarth 595 esseesse models, all identified on the outside by the specific logo to make them unique and exclusive.

The 70th birthday of the Abarth legend is also being celebrated at the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show: in a special area created by the top event’s organisers, visitors will be able to admire a special exhibition including a series of premium classic cars from various collections, telling the Abarth story right from its earliest days.

FCA Heritage will be present with the fine Abarth 750 Record (1956), which in June of that year set a total of 14 speed and endurance records for the H class.

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