Abarth has always been a slightly unusual brand. It has never tried to cover every part of the market or compete head-on with the big performance names. Instead, its reputation was built on taking small Fiats and turning them into something much rowdier, with more power, firmer suspension and a lot more attitude.

That old formula still shapes how people think about Abarth in the UK, but the cars themselves have changed. The current range is now electric, with the Abarth 500e and 600e replacing the small petrol hot hatches the brand used to be known for. So the big question around Abarth today is not really what the badge means – people already know that – but whether that same sense of fun still comes across once the petrol engine noise has gone.

For buyers, Abarth still sits in a fairly niche corner of the market. These are not practical family cars in the usual sense, and they are not trying to be. The appeal is more emotional than that. An Abarth is for someone who wants a small car that feels more special, more playful and more extroverted than the standard version underneath.

The challenge now is that Abarth has to bring that character into the electric age without losing what made the brand interesting in the first place. The move to the 500e and 600e makes the range look much more modern, but it also changes the audience slightly, because electric performance cars raise a different set of questions around driving range, public charging and day-to-day value. This page brings together all of our Abarth coverage in one place, including Expert Ratings, reviews, news and feature articles, so you can see how the brand is handling that shift in the UK.