If you were eyeing the new 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth, it looks like you are out of luck, at least for the next few months, as the Chrysler Group told its dealers today that it is no longer accepting wholesale orders for the $22,000 sporty mini car, according to a report from Detroit News citing company sources.
The report said that those placing orders now will be put on a waiting list for the 2013MY Abarth 500, which is expected to begin arriving in dealerships later in the fall.
The high-performance version of the Fiat 500 went on sale in the States at the end of April, at which point, the company had already received cash deposits from more than a thousand customers, covering the entire production for the model year.
The Fiat-Chrysler alliance then increased production at the company’s factory in Toluca, Mexico to its full capacity at 3,000 units, though that number doesn’t seem to satisfy the demand.
Earlier today, Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne and Tim Kuniskis, Head of Fiat Brand North America, visited Fiat of Austin to congratulate the dealership for becoming the first Fiat studio in the country to sell more than 100 Fiat 500s in any given month.
During his speech at the event, Kuniskis admitted that Fiat received more orders than it had originally planned to build.
“The Fiat 500 Abarth is unstoppable,” said Kuniskis. “Dealer orders for the Abarth dramatically exceeded the number of units we had scheduled for production. We had to schedule additional production to try and keep up with the demand. Most Abarth units are sold within one day.”
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