There are three driving modes: Turismo, Street and Track. The 500e also has exterior modifications from the Fiat New 500, including a new front bumper and air dam, side skirts, rear air diffusers and specially designed alloy wheels.

The Abarth 500e also has a sound generator as an option, “for those who don't want to give up on the unmistakable Abarth roar,” said François. The device is synched to the electric motor's performance, reproducing the sound of an Abarth gasoline engine.

A highly optioned launch edition, called the Scorpionissima, will go on sale in February 2023 at a starting price of €43,000 in Italy, including tax (base price for the New 500 is about 30,000 euros before EV incentives). Other prices have not been announced. It will be available as a hardtop or convertible.

The Abarth 500e will be initially sold in Europe, but Francois said it would be launched later in other markets, including Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, and Israel.

Francois hinted at future Abarth full-electric models, saying the 500e would be followed by a “big brother,” but did not offer other details. 

Abarth's European range includes two derivatives of the Fiat 500 minicar, the 595 and 695. The combustion-engine 500, in production since 2007, is on a different platform than the New 500 and 500e and is slightly smaller than the electric versions. 

Abarth also announced this week that it would sell a SUV in Brazil as part of the brand's launch in that country, the New Abarth Pulse. It is a derivative of the Fiat Pulse small crossover/SUV that is produced in Brazil.

According to Dataforce, Abarth sold 7,080 units in Europe through September, down 34 percent from 2021.

The brand is popular in Japan where its Fiat 500 derivatives account for up to 40 percent of the sales of the Fiat 500; sales of the Abarth 595 and 695 peaked at 3,200 in Japan in 2017, Abarth said.

The Abarth brand was created in 1949 by Karl Abarth, a former racing pilot who specialized in racing-tuned derivatives of Fiat cars. The company was taken over by Fiat in 1971, and mainly used to brand sporty derivatives of Fiat cars. Abarth in its current form was reborn in 2007 when Luca De Meo, current CEO of the Renault Group, was head of the Fiat brand.