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By Jonathan Crouch

The Abarth 600e sees this tiny Italian brand take its next EV step. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 35

The Abarth 600e gate-crashes the growing EV hot hatch segment with an Alfa Junior Veloce-derived electric powertrain and striking looks. This small Latin shopping rocket shows the electric era might be rather fun after all.

Backgroundword count: 129

The most powerful Abarth ever isn't some kind of junior supercar but an electric version of a fairly humble Fiat family hatch. Driving excitement is still in prospect though from this car, the Abarth 600e. We've had Abarth models of this size before - the rare Abarth Punto - but the brand is mainly known for citycar-shaped pocket rockets. In 2022 with the launch of the Abarth 500e, those started to turn electric and this fast 600e continues that trend, borrowing much of its engineering from the fastest Veloce version of Alfa Romeo's Junior Elettrica. The wild look is very much of a Fiat 600e on steroids, but the differences between the two cars are more than skin and spoiler-deep, thanks to this Abarth model's performance-orientated Perfo e-CMP platform.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 370

EV hot hatches of this size tend to be either the 'hot' or the ultra-rapid 'vindaloo' kind. You'll be served up the former recipe with an Abarth 600e, particularly if you choose the standard 240hp 'Turismo' model that most sales are centred around. Abarth is also offering an uprated 'Scorpionissima' version with the 280hp motor from the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce, but that's (to start with) limited to a global production run of just 1,949 models. Both variants drive through the front wheels and use a 51kWh usable-capacity battery pack theoretically able to take the car up to 207 miles, if you drive this Italian hot hatch in the way a typical enthusiast owner never would. 62mph from rest in the 'Turismo' takes 6.2s. It's 5.9s in the 'Scorpionissima'. Any friends who sneer at the thought of a bespoilered Fiat 600 can be put firmly in their place with the news that the underpinnings here are usefully different. This Abarth rides on an evolved 'Perfo' version of the donor car's Stellantis e-CMP platform that brings track width enhancements - 30mm more at the front and 25mm more at the rear. There's also a performance-enhancing battery cooling system, plus a Torsen limited slip differential sourced from Japanese specialist JTEKT. British braking experts Alcon provide the quad-piston calipers and the large 380mm brake discs (developed to resist fade on track). And there's a stiffened suspension set-up borrowed from the Junior Veloce which drops the car by 25mm over the equivalent Fiat and incorporate struts at the front and torsion beam at the rear. Thus the front and rear anti-roll bars have been stiffened by 140%. And there's a grippy set of bespoke Michelin tyres. The most notable feature about the smaller Abarth 500e was its fake engine note. Well you may or may not be pleased to discover that you don't get that on this 600e unless you stretch to the rare 'Scorpionissima' version. The drive modes are familiar from the 500e. The standard one is Turismo, which limits output to 187hp and top speed to 93mph to preserve range. The other two settings - Scorpion Street and Track - unlock the full powertrain output and add some weight to the steering.

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