reliability issues from previous Fiat models and was withdrawn from North America in 1982. Strict North American collision standards resulted in this Strada featuring extended plastic bumper bars. SEAT Ritmo Spanish car maker SEAT began their history as a Fiat licensee from 1948, manufacturing clones of the Italian cars. From 1979 to 1982, a Spanish version of the Ritmo, the SEAT Ritmo, was produced in Spain near Barcelona. The original SEAT Ritmo was equipped with licence-built pushrod engines from the old Fiat 124. The end of the above partnership began in 1982, coinciding with a new SEAT logo and the launch of the "System Porsche"-engined SEAT Ronda, which remained in production until 1986. An intellectual property dispute arose and was ultimately resolved by the Arbitration Chamber of Paris in 1983, which found that the Ronda was sufficiently different from the Ritmo (much to the angst of Fiat due to rumours that its restyle was very close to that of the Ronda). As part of this dispute, SEAT showed a black Ronda with all the in-house developed components painted in bright yellow, in order to highlight key differences between the two products. In 1982, SEAT entered into a new licensing agreement, this time with Volkswagen. In 1984, SEAT manufactured the new Giugiaro-designed and "System Porsche"-engined Ibiza, which still had Ritmo underpinnings. Moreover, mirroring the Regata, in 1985 SEAT also developed and launched the four-door Málaga sedan. All ties with Fiat underpinnings were finally severed when Volkswagen took majority ownership of SEAT in 1986 and began producing cars in Spain based on German-developed platforms. Revival of the Ritmo name The Ritmo name was revived in Australia by the Fiat importer, Ateco Automotive, with the new Bravo sold there with Ritmo badging beginning in February 2008. This rebadging was due to the fact that, in Australia, Mazda had been using the name Bravo for its B Series pickup. Although pre-launch indication were that the Ritmo name would also be used for New Zealand, this never eventuated since Fiat were able to use the Bravo nameplate there. The new Ritmo sold slowly and was discontinued in 2009; the name has remained retired since. References External links Strada Abarth 130 TC and Fiat 131 Owners Club Ritmo-World Ritmo Compact cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles SEAT Ritmo 1980s cars Cars introduced in 1978