It's only been a few days since the Fiat 124 Spider made its official debut at the 2015 Los Angeles Motor Show, and already rumors are popping up. According to a report from PistonHeads, Abarth has plans to go back into rallying with the 124 Spider. A source close to the tuning company told PistonHeads that the vehicle will compete in a new sports car category. It will enter the WRC in 2017, which should be a fun months after the 124 Spider goes on sale. In addition to going rallying, a hardcore variant based off the rally vehicle will be introduced.
The report indicates that an Abarth variant of the 124 Spider will use the same 1.4-liter turbo four-cylinder motor from the Fiat 500 Abarth, but that it will be tuned to produce over 200 hp. That's a 40-hp increase from the 160-hp output of the 500 Abarth's engine that's currently found in the 124 Spider. The last time Abarth was into rallying was in the late '70s and early '80s and the company was damn good at it. It won the World Rally Championship three times with the legendary 131 Abarth. It looks like the rumors about a hardcore version of the 124 Spider may just be true.