Fiat Punto Abarth bookings commence

Update - 22/10/2015: Fiat India confirms opening bookings for the Punto Abarth at Rs. 50,000.

Fiat likely to launch Punto Abarth in October, some dealers have started accepting bookings

Some Fiat dealers have started accepting bookings of the Punto Abarth hot hatchback. While some dealers are quoting a booking amount of Rs. 50,000 others who are looking to open bookings are quoting a figure of up to Rs. 1 lakh. Dealers say that the car is expected to be priced in the range of Rs. 10 lakh (ex-showroom) making it the most expensive mass segment hatchback in the country. Dealers say that the Fiat Punto Abarth is expected to be launched sometime during October 2015.

Powered by Fiat’s 1.4 litre, turbo charged petrol engine that does duty in the Fiat Linea T-Jet mid-size sedan, the new Punto Abarth will become the most powerful hot hatchback sold in the country. The engine from the Linea T-jet has been tuned to develop more power in the Punto Abarth. How much? Well, 145 bhp of max power and 211Nm of peak torque. The engine will be mated to the same five-speed manual gearbox doing duty in the standard Punto and Linea models.

To set it apart from standard models of the Punto, Fiat will be sprucing up the exteriors of the Punto Abarth with some red stickering and Abarth badges. Red detailing on the grille, air-dam, rear bumper, new chrome tipped tail pipe and ORVM casings. All Fiat badges on the car will be replaced by Abarth badges, even on the wheel rims which are sporty 16 inch Abarth units. These rims will be shod with wider 195/55 R16 Apollo Alnac tyres.

Changes to the interior include Abarth branded steering wheel, new seat covers, yellow and orange contrast stitching, an Abarth branded instrument cluster and sporty steel pedals.

The changes to the exteriors are not exactly subtle and have been incorporated to ensure that the Punto Abarth is easily distinguished from standard models of the car.