There is not much left of new cars with a manual transmission, and now one more less. FIAT 2015 Abarth just went into production with a new automatic transmission.

FIAT 2015 was already equipped with a standard six-speed automatic Aisin transmission, but now it was significantly redesigned to deal with extra power of MultiAir 1.4-liter turbocharged engine.

It is interesting that automatic transmission has a significantly different figure of power than its manual counterpart. The new model will get 157 horsepower, which is 3 hp less than in the user manual and 248 Nm of torque, which is 17 Nm more. As a comparison, the five-speed manual gearbox Abarth transmits 160 hp and up to 230 Nm torque.

New features that come with automatics include a dedicated sports mode. Despite the addition of torque, Allison Singer, the integration engineer of the FIAT Abarth vehicle development program, admits that "the management in FIAT, perhaps, will introduce a new technology into production a little faster," but she really believes that such features will provide a wider market.