Fiat Barchetta
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| Fiat barchetta | |
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| Manufacturer: | Fiat |
| Class: | front-engined front wheel drive Sports car |
| Production: | 1995 — present |
| Predecessor: | 124 Sport Spider |
| Successor: | - |
| Body Styles: | roadster |
| Engines: | 1.8 L |
The Fiat barchetta (codename '183') is a sports convertible automobile. It was developed between 1990 and 1994 under the project name Tipo B Spider 176, and was designed by Andreas Zapatinas (body), Peter Barrett Davis (interior) and many others at Fiat Centro Stile. Prototyping was done by Stola.
Production ran from February 1995 to May 2002 and from 2004 onwards.
Car bodies were welded at ILCAS in the remote mountain village of Sparone Canavese, and final assembly was done in Chivasso by Maggiora an Italian coachbuilder with a long history. The Lancia Delta HF Integrale and the short lived Lancia Kappa Coupé were also built by Maggiora. After Maggiora's bankruptcy in 2002, Fiat relocated production of a slightly facelifted Mk. 2 barchetta to its Mirafiori plant in 2004.
The barchetta is based on the Fiat Punto Mk. 1. Its 131 PS 130 hp/96 kW engine is the well-known 1.8 L (1747 cc/106 in³) twin-cam with variable camshaft timing, which is notorious for its diesel-like clattering noise when failing. The barchetta weighs 1060 kg (2337 lbs) without air conditioning and can accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.9 seconds. Although the official top speed is 200 km/h (124 mph), the barchetta has been found to go faster.
Production was limited to left hand drive cars only, even though the car was marketed and sold in the UK and Japan.
Production of the barchetta Mk. 2 is rumoured to have finished in June 2005.