Abarth 500E

The cabin of the Abarth 500e feels properly sporty and modern, with the youthful and cutesy-looking dashboard of the Fiat 500 tweaked with the Abarth touch. The cabin is a mix of high-quality fabric and Alcantara leather for the sports seats with integrated headrests.

Behind the flat-bottom multi-functional Alcantara leather-wrapped steering wheel, the Abarth 500e has a new-age full-TFT 7-inch instrument console sitting within a binnacle with curved sides. The 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system taking centre stage in the middle of the dashboard supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a premium JBL audio system. The front sports seats are heated, while the rear seats have a 50:50 split arrangement, which though doesn’t impress much on space.

The Abarth 500e's dashboard looks distinctive and wide, and the upper housing has an Alcantara leather finish, making it look and feel premium. The lower centre console has sleek-looking silver-themed switches for automatic climate control. The cabin gets a few more modern features, like a wireless charging pad, keyless entry, sound generator, fixed glass roof, driver seat height adjustment, and centre armrest with storage box.

The Abarth 500e takes inspiration from the iconic Fiat 500, which is popular for its cutesy looks. However, being an Abarth derivative, the 500e has a host of visual tweaks and add-ons that make it look like a proper sports car high on adrenaline. 

The Abarth 500e has a clean and minimalist-looking fascia comprising a closed grille with bold Abarth lettering in the middle. The rounded headlamps have a segmented design, with the split upper arc positioned on the bonnets serving as LED turn indicators. The lower half has LED projector bulbs within it. Meanwhile, the front bumper has circular daytime running LEDs on the corners and sporty-looking air intakes with honeycomb-shaped inserts.

The Abarth 500e looks super sporty with its small wheelbase, two-door design, and 17-inch alloy wheels, which look large and sporty for a car that looks this small. The door-mounted rounded rearview mirrors, sporty side skirts, and low ground clearance give the Abarth 500e a low-slung and planted feel. The rear profile of the Abarth 500e has a raked design with an angular windscreen and inclined boot lid, with vertically laid angular LED tail lamps on the outer edges having C-shaped LED inserts.

Like a true high-performance car from Abarth, the 500e also feels exciting behind the steering wheel, with this compact electric hatchback having three dedicated driving modes – Turismo, Scorpion Street, and Scorpion Track. The sport-oriented setup for the suspension combination of Macpherson struts at the front and torsion beam at the rear with stiffened anti-roll bars make the Abarth 500e a hoot to drive.

The Abarth 500e comes standard with a front-mounted 113.7kW electric motor, which churns out a maximum torque output of 235 Nm and takes 7 seconds for a 0-100 kmph sprint. The 42kWh lithium-ion battery pack of the 500e is capable of delivering a maximum driving range of 265 km, while it takes 5.4 hours for a full charge using an AC supply. The battery can also be charged using a DC fast charger, which can charge the battery from 20-80% in 30 minutes. 

Along with basics like front and side airbags, ABS with EBD, traction control, electronic stability control, 360-degree parking sensors and rear camera, the Abarth 500e also features premium ADAS features like autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping assist, attention assist, traffic sign information, intelligent speed assist, E-call and blind spot assist.

With the 500e, Abarth has taken a whole new approach to the performance motoring experience with an all-electric powertrain in place of a traditional internal combustion engine. However, it hasn’t sacrificed its virtues of being a fun-to-drive car with explosive performance a bit.