Many of us were extremely excited to see that FIAT was reentering the U.S. market - however, it took some time to build momentum after the Italian brand arrived. Fortunately, FIAT has been able to pick up the pace in recent months - with the help of the 2012 FIAT 500 Abarth.

The model's sales performance is definitely something to wave a stick at - more specifically, it's virtually sold out. The 2012 500 Abarth went on sale in the U.S. in mid-April, so May was the first full month of deliveries for the interesting high-performance model. After about six weeks, it was determined that what you see is what you get: "There are still FIAT 500 Abarths available for retail customers," said Jiyan Cadiz, a FIAT spokesman. "You couldn't order one. But whatever is on the ground is what we have left."

Never fear, Chicago FIAT car shoppers. FIAT hasn't let us down in the past five months, and it doesn't plan to start now. The Italian automaker plans to boost production on the 2013 model in response to "incredible customer demand."  Whew, they had us worried there for a second.

So when can anxious FIAT shoppers and fans hope to put their order in for a 2013 model version? Dealers will begin taking orders for the 2013 FIAT 500 Abarth in late summer, with deliveries predicted for the fourth quarter of this year. We wont officially know prices until September. In the meantime, interested consumers are encouraged to hurry to Fields FIAT of Highland Park as soon as possible to get their hands on what we have left.