Fiat 124 Spider to Debut This Year

2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata (Credit: © Mazda)

The 2016 Mazda Miata is already well known, but its platform mate, the Fiat 124 Spider, has yet to remove its veil. A new report from Edmunds.com claims that this will not be the case for much longer, as inside sources have told it that the Fiat roadster will debut later in 2015.

While I am excited for the launch of the Fiat 124 Spider, I am most excited to see what happens when Fiat slaps an Abarth badge on it. According to reports, the standard Fiat 124 Spider will come with a 1.4-liter MultiAir Turbo engine that puts out just 138 horsepower. However, there are rumors that the Abarth model could house 200 ponies under its hood.

With the Miata’s underpinnings and a 200-horsepower four-cylinder doing the powering, the Fiat 124 Spider Abarth sounds like a hoot. The only way the Italian manufacturer can screw this up is by making the body too, well, Fiat…

The brass at Fiat have held firm on the statement that this will not be a rebadged Miata. Instead, it will have its own style. Let’s just hope it’s not planning to go all 500 on this roadster and kill all of our hopes.

My final thought on the Fiat 124 Spider is why in the world Mazda would manufacture its own competition. With the Mini Cooper Roadster out of the equation (not that it was much of a factor), the 2016 MX-5 had the rule of the low-priced roadster roost. Bringing Fiat into the mix only gives buyers options, and the possibility of an Abarth model likely makes things worse. Chances are that FCA brought several truckloads of cash to the table, allowing Mazda to work so hard on revolutionizing the Miata for this new generation.

What’s more, Mazda is likely charging Fiat a healthy premium for manufacturing its roadster, and that may put enough of a price gap for the MX-5 to breathe once they both are in showrooms.