cars news 10: Pogea Racing Crams 404 Horses into a Fiat 500 Abarth

Here’s something you don’t see everyday — a Fiat 500 Abarth with 404 horses underneath its short black hood.

Talk about a wild sleeper of a ride. Pogea calls it Ares, the ultimate asphalt warrior. You can call us impressed as hell.

The Friedrichshafen, Germany-based aftermarket tuner’s latest creation is a pint-sized Italian stallion with a carbon-fiber wide-body kit.

“In order to realize this project, hardly a screw remained untouched over the four years of development,” said Eduard Pogea, company founder, in a statement.

“I only considered the most competent suppliers and developers. Without the support of Michelin, Glasurit, and in particular the Italian Abarth engineer Enrico Scaravelli from SCARA73, the Ares would not have been realized.”

The seriously hot hatch looks like the perfect beast for the city, highway, or track. It sports carbon-fiber bumpers, hood, mirror caps, and roof spoilers.

Under the hood, the 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine cranks out the aforementioned 404 hp along with 328 lb-ft of torque. A stock Abarth offers a mere 160 hp and 170 lb-ft of torque.

Pogea says its little beast can sprint from 0-62 mph in 4.7 seconds and has an estimated top speed near the 180 mph mark. That should provide more than enough for trips around town and back again.

The tuner plans to build only five examples of the Ares, all of which will be fitted with a manual transmission only. They should sell for about $67,000 a pop.