Since ten
years ago, we've only seen Abarth tune a handful of Fiat products – namely the
500, Punto, and now the 124 Spider. But the Scorpion brand has so much more
potential.
What if, it did what it does best with
something a bit bigger. Something like, say, an Iveco Stralis? It might look a
little something like this.
Iveco is essentially Fiat's
truck-making operation. It was demerged from Fiat when the automaker merged
with Chrysler, and put under the separate umbrella of CNH Industrial – a
manufacturing group still chaired by Sergio Marchionne and controlled by the
Agnelli/Elkann family's Exor holding company, so it's about as “separate” from
FCA as Ferrari is.
It was surely a natural choice, then, for Team
Abarth Scorpion to go with Iveco trucks to support its logistical needs,
bringing a long-hauling Stralis XP and a smaller Eurocargo truck on board, and
decking them out in special livery for the purpose. But it's not just the
factory rally team, or participants in the Abarth Selenia Trophy, that will get
to see (or for that matter drive) the spruced-up haulers.
The truck manufacturer has committed to producing a
highly symbolic 124 examples of the Iveco Stralis XP Abarth edition, each with
the same special livery that combines classic racing stripes with a more modern
checkered-flag motif and a cabin with leather trim and a sporty bucket seat. No
engine upgrade, we're afraid, but then a little turbo four probably wouldn't
move it very fast, anyway.
