Abarth New, Red, Manual on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fiat gives 2019 124 Spider the Urbana Edition treatment

Fiat is celebrating the arrival of spring and drop-top cruising season by offering the blacked-out Urbana Edition treatment on the 124 Spider for the 2019 model year. The move follows the Urbana Edition rebranding — it was formerly called Urbana Trekking — first shown earlier this year on the 500L. The package offers dark interior and exterior accents to the convertible roadster. It comes with Black Diamond 17-inch aluminum wheels fitted with performance tires, dual exhaust tips, black exterior accents and gloss-black finishes on the A-pillar bar bezel, seat-back pillar and side mirror caps. You also get front fog lamps. Inside, the package gets you matte gray accents, plus leather and microfiber on the seats and wrapping the instrument panel and instrument cluster hood. Fiat is offering the Urbana Edition package only on the Classica model of the 124 Spider for an extra $995, which brings the total cost to $27,680 including destination. It'll be on display next week at the New York International Auto Show. Fiat refreshed the 124 Spider for 2019 by adding features including a rear backup camera, a standard seven-inch Fiat Connect 7.0 touchscreen and offering custom center-stripe design options on the entry-level Classica. The 124 Spider is heavily based on the Mazda Miata and built in the same plant in Japan, but it uses its own 1.4-liter turbocharged inline-four engine. You can read Autoblog's drivers' notes on the roadster from 2017.

Playboy's Playmate of the Year gets a Fiat 124 Spider

As Playboy's latest – and possibly last – Playmate of the Year, we have little doubt that Eugena Washington can get a ride in just about any car she wants. But for the next two years she'll be driving herself around in a 2017 Fiat 124 Spider – the model that FCA has fittingly positioned as the automotive equivalent of Viagra. A two-year lease on the Japanese-made, Italian-styled roadster is part of Washington's prize package for winning the magazine's top honor, along with $100,000 in cash. The actress and model has already made it to the top three in the seventh season of Tyra Banks' show America's Next Top Model and has appeared in advertising campaigns for Lexus, Target, and an array of cosmetics brands. Eugena is the publication's 57th Playmate of the Year, and the third black woman to receive the title (following 1990's Renee Tenison and Ida Ljungqvist in 2009). But she may also be the last as the magazine, in an historic move, transitions away from nudity in print and into the mainstream to compete with publications like GQ and Vanity Fair. Related Video: Eugena Washington, Playboy's 2016 Playmate of the Year, With All-new 2017 Fiat 124 Spider May 12, 2016 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - Eugena Washington, an accomplished model and actress from Palmdale, California, has been named Playboy's 2016 Playmate of the Year. Along with her title, Washington receives $100,000 in prize money and a two-year lease on the all-new 2017 Fiat 124 Spider. Reviving the storied nameplate, the all-new 2017 Fiat 124 Spider brings its classic Italian styling and performance to a new generation. Paying homage to the original 124 Spider nearly 50 years after its introduction, the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider delivers the ultimate Italian roadster experience with driving excitement, technology and safety combined with iconic Italian design. Washington is featured on the cover and a 10-page pictorial inside Playboy's June 2016 issue. Click here for more from the May 11 announcement. ### Playboy Names Eugena Washington Its 2016 Playmate Of The Year LOS ANGELES, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Eugena Washington, an accomplished model and actress from Palmdale, California, has been named Playboy's 2016 Playmate of the Year and will be formally introduced to press today at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, California.

Here's why GM is giving Marchionne the cold shoulder

What's funny about an Automotive News story titled Why Won't GM Play Ball with Marchionne? is that few people outside of the Fiat CEO and his confidants understands why General Motors would play ball with the Italian company. Marchionne has said the combined entity could increase its annual earnings by $5 billion, but even an outside analyst that agreed with the number only conditionally agreed, saying, "If you assume some synergies and peak US cycle market conditions then, yes, they could get to 30 billion." However, that same analyst described Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as "probably the most challenged within the global industry." Not US industry – global. And before that revenue goal could be reached, the merged companies would need to wade through a bureaucratic swamp. Plus the executive, manufacturing, financial, platform, procurement, and international labor swamps, among a few others. This AN piece can be viewed as GM's response to Marchionne's assertions and offers of various "hugs." It lays out numerous reasons why a more focused and disciplined GM - one almost done with a major crisis and able to focus on its priorities - believes Fiat would be the desperate housewife in such a scenario. On the other hand, while AN doesn't have Marchionne's numbers, to get a better sense of where the Italian is coming from you should read more of the "Industry on Trial" special report. Not that it justifies the creation of a GM-FCA, but it shows that the capital expenditures considering the amount of automaker development overlap are, to the outside eye, staggering. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images Earnings/Financials Fiat GM Sergio Marchionne