Fiat Barchetta - History

History

The Barchetta was developed between 1990 and 1994 under the project name Tipo B Spider 176. It was designed by Andreas Zapatinas, Alessandro Cavazza under the supervision of Peter Barrett Davis and other car designers at the Fiat Centro Stile, and prototyping was carried out by Stola.

Production began in February 1995 and lasted until June 2005 with a brief pause. The Barchetta was based on the chassis of the Mark 1 Fiat Punto. The Barchetta has 1,747 cc DOHC petrol engine fitted variable camshaft timing, used for the first time in a Fiat production car. The engine has 131 PS (96 kW; 129 hp) and 164 N·m (121 lb·ft) of torque. The Barchetta weighs 1056 kg (2328 lb) without air conditioning and can accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.9 seconds and has top speed of 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph). It came in various trim levels which offered different features, for example, rhombus(Diamond)-patterned red leather instead of the standard black leather or fabric seats, alloy wheels instead of steel wheels, or Fog-lights as an option. Arguably one of the biggest external cosmetic changes was made by the addition of the third brake light, first introduced by Fiat on the Lido and Riviera in 2000, and on sub models thereafter.

The Barchetta was revised in 2003 for its relaunch the following year, with myriad small alterations inside and out. The most notable changes were the revised front spoiler and rear bumper. Production of the car eventually stopped in June 2005.