Back in March at the Geneva Motor Show, Fiat presented the revival of the Abarth brand as their in-house tuning company starting with the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 race car. With sales of the Grande Punto Abarth model starting this months, Fiat now drops another tease of an even more potent Abarth concept of the Grande Punto called “Essesse” (Super Sport).

Over the Grande Punto Abarth with its 150hp 1.4 turbo engine, the SS has a 180hp version of the same engine and receives a very attractive body kit consisting of a front bumper fascia with huge botox induced air intake openings and Abarth Scorpion logos inside, dual exhaust pipes nestled within the stylish rear bumper fascia, essesse logo or checkered flag decals, concave Abarth wheels, tri-tone mirrors and recessed fuel filler lid. However, close inspection of the photo at the top of this page raises the question of practicality of the rear roof spoiler, which appears integrated into the top of the c-pilllar of the quarter panels. Imagine if this spolier gets damaged, the quarter panels need to be sectioned and conversely the spoiler needs to be cut if the quarter panel is damaged – not good for insurance ratings. Naturally, the photo of the rear view is an edit of this image of the Grande Punto Abarth, but it’s a little unrealistic, especially, if Fiat is trying to collect meaningful feedback for potential public sales. Nonetheless, the SS package, which is targeted to younger drivers on a budget gets our nod of approval.