Abarth has taken the bold step of committing to an all electric future, by publicly stating this week that the company will not be launching any more combustion models. European head of Fiat and Abarth, Gaetano Thorel has said that there won't be any more combustion models in the future of Abarth, saying that the cost of making them is too high for the car company itself and the consumer too.

Abarth launched its first EV last year with the 500e and then discontinued its petrol models, the 595 and 695 in August this year. Pretty recently too, the company launched its first SUV, the 600e which has some impressive performance figures.

When speaking to Autoar this week, Thorel said the following:

"If you make a combustion sports hatch that emits 180g/km and you are in Italy, you have to pay between €1000 and €2000 road tax every year. Is it fair when I can give customers an electric sport hatch that behaves in the same way, has the same level of enjoyment and equivalent performance? All at the same price?"

Gaetano Thorel

Thorel also ruled out the possibility of developing their own bespoke in house vehicles. He mentioned that the entire history and DNA of Abarth has been about taking a normal car and making it more sporty. Autocar even asked him about using hybrid engines, just like Fiat has done with the 500 Ibrida. Again, Thorel ruled this out, citing the lack of power available in those sorts of engines.

Our take

It has been unfortunate to see some of the Stellantis brands give in on making pure EV models. The Jeep Avenger was supposed to be EV only and has since had a hybrid variant launched, same for the Fiat 600 and Fiat 500 too. So, it is very refreshing to see a brand like Abarth stick to their guns and commit to making only electric vehicles going forward.