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Fiat 124 Spider Will Be Shown at 2015 Frankfurt or LA Auto Shows

The deal signed between Fiat and Mazda a couple years ago seemed to have stalled. Customers are already buying new Miatas all over Japan and America, while the expected Italian version that was supposed to come out at the same time is nowhere to be seen.
Fiat 124 Spider rendering 4 photos
Photo: Lorenzo Preti Graphicar
Fiat 124 Spider underlined as "Special" for 2015Fiat 124 Spider underlined as "Special" for 2015Fiat 124 Spider
We may finally see the new spider later this year, as Edmunds cites insiders when suggesting the Fiat 124 Spider will be shown this fall. The reveal will take place either at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September or Los Angeles in November.

What puzzles us is the fact that nobody has seen a fully built prototype of the car. The original plan was for Abarth to sell a version of the 2016 MX-5 with numerous changes that included powertrains, hardware and design.

Now Fiat has decided to sell it instead, as part of their "Special" model lineup indicated during their 5-year strategy conference in 2014.

The Mazda MX-5 model is sold with either a 1.5-liter making 131 PS or a 2-liter delivering 160 PS. But Fiat wants to use on of its 1.4-liter T-Jet, available on many of their cars, plus a couple of Alfa Romeos. Also rumored for the 124 Spider is some derivative from the 1.750CC engine of which both naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions exist.

From an engineering standpoint, Mazda can be credited with making a fantastic new roadster, so all the Italians need to do now is design their own body. We hope it will look a little bit like this rendering created by Lorenzo Preti, but various reports have suggested everything from a Targa top to a folding metal one are being considered.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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