Abarth is looking to double the number of dealers it has in the UK to around 20.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Although the first wave of 10 dealers appointed to coincide with the launch of the Grande Punto Abarth are all Fiat dealers, there is no restriction on who can be an Abarth dealer, said Ivan Gibson, head of the brand in the UK.
“All we ask is for a dedicated area of the showroom.”
This opens up the exciting possibility when Lancia relaunches as part of the Alfa Romeo network to have Alfa, Lancia and Abarth under the same roof but with dedicated showroom areas, he said.
Gibson said he was looking to sell between 550 and 600 Grande Punto Abarths this year and up to 800 next year.
To that will be added around 1,500 examples of the 500 Abarth which he expects to arrive here in January.
Order books for the 500 Abarth have already opened. “We had 76 people each paying a GBP500 (US$1,000) deposit ordering a car in the first two days,” said Gibson.
Fiat Auto relaunched Abarth last year in Italy which will be its biggest market. But it expects the UK to be its second biggest alongside Germany and ahead of Japan where it launches next year.
The iconic brand, founded in 1949 by Austrian Carlo Abarth, will also launch in France, Spain and Austria by the end of this year.
Abarth moved into purpose-built premises at the Fiat Group’s Mirafiori complex in Turin earlier this year. Total Abarth production is scheduled at 10,000 units a year.
There are three versions of the Grande Punto Abarth available in the UK with prices starting at GBP13,500 for the 1.4 T-jet and two levels of chassis and engine upgrades, the most expensive of which is the SS kit at GBP3,500.
