NF500 / hp

O.CT Tuning of Austria have recently launched a tuning upgrade for the 1.3 diesel Fiat 500, which knocks three seconds off the 0-100 km/h time, adds 35 Nm of torque and 15 hp.

You can read full details of the upgrade on the OCT website, but in reality there’s not too much to see as the gains all come via an upgrade to the ECU.

We somehow failed to pick up on this first time around, but it seems many outlets have just starting reporting on a small but significant nugget of information revealed at the last weeks unveiling of the Fiat 500 Abarth.

Abarth officially revealed that an Esseesse tuning kit will be available for the 500 come November, which will boost power further still over the Abarth version to 160 hp. The kit will be available either at time of order, or as a retrofit, reportedly to 500s under 20,000 km or one year old.

Should be fun.

So says Auto Express, who’ve whipped up some photoshop images of how they believe the new Fiat 500 Abarth will shape up when launched later in 2008.

Auto Express have changed their view about the forthcoming line up from previous articles, and now seem to agree with our own predictions of a 135 hp Abarth and 155 hp Abarth SS, while their earlier predictions of a 180 or 200 hp Abarth SS version have shifted to an official tuning kit offering a power figure somewhere in that ballpark.

The piece doesn’t really say or show anything new for 500 devotees, but as you can read the article for free online there’s no harm in reading a little more 500 hype as the UK launch creeps ever nearer. You can see the photos and read the report on the Auto Express website

According to inside reports the hot Abarth versions of the new Fiat 500 could arrive in the UK as early as the second half of 2008, will be available in two flavours, and on sale at dedicated Abarth dealerships.

Rumour suggests the Abarth dealerships will be stand alone units, although they may be attached to Fiat dealers in a similar way to the association between BMW and MINI dealerships.

The two Abarth Fiat 500s will be the 135 hp 1.4 litre petrol engine Abarth and a hotter 155 hp Abarth SS derivative, also powered by a 1.4 litre t-jet petrol unit.

Apparently the little pocket rockets will be serviceable at around 35 Abarth service centres nation-wide in the UK, presumably made up of the ten dedicated Abarth dealerships and 25 or so chosen Fiat service centres.

Car magazine online have some excellent photographs and some interesting thoughts on the new Fiat 500 Abarth SS which was recently caught on camera during testing.

The photographs show quite dramatic modifications to the exterior styling, not only for function, such as the front lower bodywork and grille, but also for style and sound, such as the extremely beefy looking twin rear exit exhausts.

In terms of performance and power, Car are hedging their bets at anywhere between 165 and 180 hp for this true pocket rocket.  The Abarth SS is shaping up to be a real winner in our eyes!

Read more, see all the photos over at Car.

The same red Fiat 500 Abarth that was caught testing last month and seen on WorldCarFans.com has  popped up again, and this time Evo have the exclusive photographs on their website.

Disappointingly there’s only two images, and the text does nothing more than reitterate previous rumours, with Evo claiming there will be a 135 hp Abarth, an Abarth 500 SS with 150 hp, plus a more powerful 200 hp version.  The 200 hp hot 500 is most likely (sadly) to be used exclusively in a one-make race series Fiat are rumoured to be planning for launch some time in 2008.

Auto Express are rather sensationally claiming to have the inside line on the forthcoming Fiat 500 Abarth.  Or rather Fiat 500 Abarths.

For they claim not only are Fiat working on 135 hp 500 Abarth and 150 hp 500 Abarth S versions of their new baby, they’re also planning on unleashing a genuinely hot 200 bhp Super Sport version, relaunching the traditional 595 SS moniker.

According to the publication, Fiat are also promising to match the output of the hot new 500 range with a sports chassis, wider wheels and track.

We’ve no idea how much weight to lend to this story, but if Fiat did ever launch a 200 hp Abarth it would certainly take the car to a whole new level, and put the power and performance up their with many bigger “hot hatch” rivals.