Fiat May Bring Back Gas Abarth Models Due to EV Owners' Inability to Modify Their Cars

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      Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A Stellantis brand is set to abandon its previously declared shift towards electrification, citing a customer base that prefers gasoline engines. Unbelievable, right? This time, the dissent is not happening in the land of V8s, but rather closer to the company’s roots in Italy, where Fiat is exploring ways to make its electrified Abarth line appealing to enthusiasts once again.

      Gaetano Thorel, the head of Fiat Europe, informed Autocar that Abarth customers are expressing a strong desire for combustion-engine options, leading the brand to contemplate reintroducing non-electrified models to its lineup. Thorel mentioned that Abarth customers typically enjoy modifying their vehicles, which isn’t an option with the company’s electric vehicles.

      While that may be the case, I find this reasoning somewhat disingenuous. To someone like me, who has been overclocking PCs for almost 30 years, the claim that there’s no opportunity for enhancement in an electric powertrain feels somewhat insincere. I would argue that it is not only feasible, but also considerably simpler to achieve—and that is likely what concerns automakers about giving customers the access needed to make such modifications.

      Let me adjust my nerd glasses for just a moment, as my earlier remark downplays the PC enthusiast community slightly. It’s not only feasible to achieve more performance from most components, but manufacturers have learned to embrace it, providing parts with increased headroom from the factory (with the caveat that exceeding factory tolerances may void any warranties). Remember when we had a similar understanding in the automotive sector? Nowadays, that’s more of an exception than the rule.

      However, I’ll give Thorel some credit; perhaps Fiat’s EVs genuinely lack headroom. They are designed with cost in mind, which could restrict any potential enhancements even if some individual components are capable of more. But in a landscape of encrypted ECUs and tightly controlled OEM data, how can we be sure?

      So, I’ll leave you with one question: If these Abarth models are genuinely intended for tuners as claimed, their ECUs will be unencrypted, permitting straightforward third-party and customer modifications, right?

      Right?

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