You have to love a good underdog story. With the Fiat Punto on the ropes (to use some Hollywood parlance) because of the imminent closure of Fiat’s Melfi plant in Southern Italy, the unsung Italian hatchback has come out swinging for its life; or is this simply its final hurrah? Who knows, but maybe this limited edition Abarth Punto Scorpione will be to the Punto what the rope-a-dope was to Muhammad Ali when he beat George Foreman with that sucker punch.
The great news is Fiat South Africa has introduced the Limited Edition Abarth Punto Scorpione locally. This limited edition only sports 99 vehicles world-wide and South Africa will receive a limited run of 10 of these units. The limited edition is distinguished by its Scorpione Black body paint, which becomes matte on the bonnet and roof.
The Abarth Punto Scorpione is equipped with a 1.4-litre MultiAir engine boosted, with the help of a Garrett turbo, to 132 kW and maximum torque of 270 Nm. Acceleration to 100 km/h from zero takes just 7.5 seconds and top speed is over 216 km/h, whilst still returning CO2 emissions of 142 g/km. Drive to the front wheels is through a 6-speed close ratio manual transmission.
Further performance enhancements come from the modified ride and safety. Floating, perforated and ventilated front brake discs combine with four-piston yellow brake calipers and high-performance brake pads, while the rear features perforated brake discs. A set of glossy black 18″ alloy wheels are kept in contact with the road courtesy of Koni shock absorbers with Frequency Selective Dumping (FSD) and specially lowered springs. The exhaust pipe is taken from the now famous “Esseesse” kit.
Inside, the Abarth Punto Scorpione features “Abarth Corsa by Sabelt” black technical fabric and seats that are partially trimmed in Alcantara with red and yellow stitching. Enriching the interiors are the aluminium kick plate, the stainless steel pedal unit with Abarth shield, and the leather steering wheel with double red and yellow stitching to mirror the seats. Feedback is provided to the driver by way of the sporty Jaeger driving instruments.
All this Abarth awesomeness is available in the rather rare Abarth Punto Scorpione for R365 000. We think it looks pretty cool, just as long as the gorgeous Abarth bucket seats are included in the package. Get one before all 10 are gone.
