Spent a whole day at the Los Angeles Auto Show over the weekend.
First port of call was to see what the US spec Abarth 500 was like, as the car was making its debut. Having winced at all the publicity material calling it a Fiat 500 Abarth, I note that there are no Fiat badges on the cars, and the brochure also calls it simply "Abarth". The only surprising difference is that the rev counter is not atop the dash, but mounted down to the left of the speedo. The other interior changes that come on US spec 500s, such as the filled in glove-box, different electric window switches remain,and outside there are US spec bumpers and lights. Mechanically, it is different, as it has the 160 bhp MultiAir engine in it. All the cars on the stand had manual gearboxes. No prices yet, though the stand staff expect the car to start at around $25,000, and there is no mention of esseesse. The cars come in Rosso, Nero, Bianco and Grigio - all familiar colours to us, and the white is BNW, not Funk.
I've seen quite a lot of ordinary 500s on the road now, too. I believe about 20,000 have been sold, and I note that Hertz has now got some in their fleet, so next trip, I will try to get one to sample the US spec car. There were regular and C models on display.
Less impressed by this one, which had raided the Mopar aftermarket catalogue.
If you want to see the rest of the pictures (over 400 of them!), they are here:
http://s143.photobucket.com/albums/r139/colinrear/LA%20Show%202011/?start=all
