Abarth falls under the Stellantis umbrella, but it’s nowhere near as mainstream as brands like Dodge, Chrysler, or Jeep. No, it’s more of a niche company, and it focuses exclusively on Fiat products. Neither of these companies have ventured too deeply into electrification, but that’s about to change as Abarth is reportedly working on a new electric hot hatch. It’ll be based on the zero-emission Fiat 500e, and it’s scheduled to launch sometime in 2023.

What to Expect from the Abarth Electric Fiat 500e

The news about the new electric Abarth hot hatch comes via Autocar, and the report claims that official details will be revealed sometime in the near future., and the report claims that official details will be revealed sometime in the near future.}} The unofficial word is that the electric Abarth will be able to hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in around seven seconds on the way to a top speed of 100 mph (160 km/h). Okay, so maybe it’s not really a hot hatch in typical fashion, but it will represent quite an improvement over standard Fiat 500e, which makes the same sprint in nine seconds flat and tops out at just 93 mph.

As part of an interview, Abarth’s main brass, Olivier Francois, actually confirmed that the Abarth 500e is in development and the final tests are taking place. Apparently, the company has been using social media to listen to the “Abarth community” to help gauge where the brand needs to go with its first electric car. “A year and a half ago, I said it can’t be that hard . Electric cars are so fun to drive already. The good news is that we are actively working on it, and once it’s confirmed, it will be relatively quick. The bad news is that it’s more complicated to deliver than I thought. If you want to do a real Abarth, it’s not the same electric powertrain.”

Apparently, the Abarth version of the Fiat 500e will be more than just a bit of extra juice being sent to an electric motor. Francois alluded to the fact that the company has focused on adapting both the suspension and brakes to help accommodate the new and more powerful electric motor. This could mean that there are actually some significant hardware upgrades as opposed to just some extra look-pretty parts and revision of computer algorithms. With the Abarth 500e expected to be revealed sometime by the end of 2022 or in early 2023, I guess we won’t have to wait around very long to find out exactly what the company has done to make the Abarth version truly stand out of the 500e that it’s based on.