The official (and bizarrely-translated) press release regarding the new Sabelt seats for the 500 and GPA is out now:-

The new seat "Abarth Corse by Sabelt" is born: a technologically evolved product which is the result of the cooperation between two Italian brands, sharing the same sportsmanship and technological values. In fact, Abarth once more found the ideal partner in Sabelt in order to develop this new product, which confirms the goal of the Scorpion brand to transfer to all its customers the functionality, in terms of performance and safety, of the racing world.

Designed by Sabelt Style Center, under supervision of Abarth Style Center, the new seats stem out of the same philosophy that inspired, in the 60’s, the creation of racing seats for the Abarths 595 and 695. These monococque seats, clearly sports featuring, were designed and produced by Roberto Fusina, with their rounded lines and marked containment bands, suitable either for track racing and road use.

Nowadays, the seats "Abarth Corse by Sabelt" match the typical features of sport seats – such as lightness (10 kilos less than production seats) and the capability of retaining the body under lateral and lengthwise drives, thanks to their mono-layer padding containment bands – with the ergonomy and comfort of the seats conceived for road use.

Equipped with a release and forward-tipping lever, the backrest embodies the headrest and shows the typical slit for the passage of four-point seat belts. In addition, the shell (with its newfangled supporting backrest) and the cushion plate are made out of white compound material, formed by structural polyester resins with 1" glass fibres, and are moulded using state-of-the-art SMC (Sheet Moulding Compound) technology.

Available in two versions (Frau black leather and fretworked black Alcantara, or black "F1" technical fabric) the seats "Abarth Corse by Sabelt" are embellished with some details like, for instance, the aesthetic felled seams with red thread and the distinctive Abarth writing, while the silver colour typifies the Scorpion Logo placed on the backrest tilt knob.

After being presented at the recent Geneva show, the first seats "Abarth Corse by Sabelt" have been installed on 200 Abarth 500s used as courtesy cars by European Ferrari dealers. This renewed cooperation with the Maranello firm deepens its roots in many shared values, such as passion for performance, racing soul, care of details and Italian style, and in the certainty that the "little and wicked" will be capable of satisfying even the highly demanding clients of Ferrari. Featuring an exclusive colour and a coat inspired by the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, these special cars show typical sport features such as the seats "Abarth Corse by Sabelt", the variable back-pressure exhaust "Abarth by Magneti Marelli" and the satellite navigator "Abarth Blue&MeTM MAP" with Telemetry function developed by Magneti Marelli.

Some contents of this special series will be soon included in the official Abarth Cars Accessories catalogue, allowing all clients to customize their cars with racing features. In particular, the seats "Abarth Corse by Sabelt" will be available not only to the cars of the "Scorpion" but also to the Fiat 500 and Fiat Grande Punto 3-door models.

Ooh, very nice.  I love the scorpion.  Sticking to my lovely red ones though, which look very slutty after putting leather feed on them yesterday.

I've got the UK prices now, too.

Frau black leather/Alcantara: £2,250 per pair
Black "F1" technical fabric: £1,760 per pair

ANy idea of when this new exhaust is going to be available - I was going to get the G-tech one in the next month or so, but might hold out for the Abarth one if its just around the corner?

You might just in a moment of weakness choose those at ordering but the idea of upgrading from leather means you could spend as much on seats as the SS kit on the 500 

If they became a factory order option, I suspect that might be a box that gets ticked a lot.

Love the seats... just not sure that my "seat" would, I might be a little wide in the beam for those hip-huggers 

Almost worth it just for the ejector seat pull.... almost

Quote from: AlexK on May 18, 2009, 10:35:34 am

I've got the UK prices now

Ye gods.  Bang goes the Playstation plan.

Any idea how to get the unobtainable red "sit here and fill the form" seats at the dealers?  501?

Surely no real man could ever get his arse comfortably in one those. I thought they were for kids, models or anorexics.