Headquarters: Turin, Italy
Established: 31 March 1949
Founder(s): Carlo Abarth

In 1949, Italian-Australian Carlo Abarth founded Abarth, a racing-car manufacturer, in Turin, Italy. In 1952, he began his well-known association with Fiat, building the Abarth 1500 Biposto upon Fiat mechanicals. In the 1960s, Abarth cars achieved great success in hill climbs and sports-car racing. Later, the company added high-performance exhaust pipes and tuning kits for road vehicles, including Fiats. Abarth was also associated in producing sports or racing cars with Porsche and Simca.

In 1971, Abarth was sold and became the racing department for Fiat. The most famous Abarth car was the Autobianchi A112 Abarth, which proved very popular on the rally racing circuits. Abarth also prepared the Fiat Group's rally cars, including the Fiat 124 Abarth and the 131 TC. In 2007, Fiat re-launched the brand with the Grande Punto Abarth and the Grande Punto Abarth S2000. The same year, the company introduced a new version of the Fiat 500: the Fiat Nuova 500. The Abarth 500 SS is the performance model of the Fiat 500.