Fiat 500 now in Abarth 695 Maserati trim

News is, Fiat’s latest hot hatch based on the 500, the Abarth 695 Maserati edition, will be showcased in Mille Miglia.

This exclusive convertible gets exterior paint called Pontevecchio Bordeaux, sourced from Maserati and an electric titanium-grey soft top.

The highly-bolstered seats are covered in sand-beige leather upholstery, with strips featuring single-layer padding. The dashboard and gearbox trim adorn a special matte-finish carbon lining, while the door panels and rear panels undergo a special “UV-LUX” treatment, which lends the trims an elegant grey “flocking” effect.

The black leather wrapped steering wheel is spruced up aesthetically by beige leather inserts and tricolour hub and houses the wheel-mounted gearbox controls. Other interior details include aluminium pedals and sill plate, carbon-fibre kick plate with “Abarth 695 Maserati Edition” graphics.

The turbocharged 1.4-litre 4 cylinder motor makes 180 hp at 5500 rpm and 250 Nm in sport mode at 3000 rpm. Matched to it is the Abarth Competizione 5-speed gearbox with paddle shifts. It gets from 0 to 100 kph in under 7 seconds and it will speed away up to 225 kph. This measure of performance is complemented by a fuel economy figure of 6.5 l/100 km.

The exhaust system gets very Maserati-esque hexagonal tailpipes and variable back-pressure “dual mode” which improves performance and sound above 3,000 rpm.

Braking force comes courtesy of larger discs upfront and rear. This 500 rides on Neptune Design 17-inch alloy wheels wearing 205/40 tyres.

As a standard fitment comes the 400W 9-speaker, 8-channel amplifier JBL audio system.

Only 499 units of the latest rendition of the Fiat 500 will be made and most of them will go European markets, so consider yourself lucky if you feast your eyes on one in the GCC.