Fiat announced it will being its all-electric 500e to the United States at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show.Jason Tchir/The Globe and Mail
If you’re a fan of both electric vehicles and small cars, you might wonder why we have so few options in North America.
With the exception of the all-electric Mini Cooper SE, small EVs like the Volkswagen ID.3 and Honda e haven’t made it to North America, where trucks and SUVs are the big sellers.
Fiat is going to add one option. It announced a decision to bring its all-electric 500e to North America last week at the Los Angeles Auto Show. It won’t arrive in the United States until early 2024, and it’s not clear yet whether we’ll see it in Canada.
Introduced in 2020 in Europe, the 500e was designed and built from the ground up as an EV. It’s a different car than the previous 500e, a battery-electric version of the 500, which was sold in the U.S. from 2012 to 2019, but never in Canada.
In Europe, this new 500e – also called the New Fiat 500 in some markets there – is selling alongside Fiat’s original gas-powered 500.
Fiat pulled the 500 from the U.S. and Canada in 2019 because of low sales. We won’t be seeing the gas version in Canada again, Fiat said.
Although it’s a completely new model, the 500e looks a lot like the 500. It is 61 millimetres longer, 56 millimetres wider and 29 millimetres taller and the curves are a little smoother.
Inside, the interior is an improvement. The basic outline of the 500 dash is there, but the look is less retro.
In Europe, it’s available in a version with a retractable fabric roof.
In Los Angeles, Fiat didn’t show a production version. Instead, it showed three swanky concepts by designers Armani, Kartell and Bulgari.
Small car, medium range
Olivier Francois, Fiat chief executive officer, said 'the new 500e is more than a car, it is a social project to feed America’s appetite for change toward sustainable mobility.'Jason Tchir/The Globe and Mail
While Fiat didn’t reveal any specs or a price, the front-wheel-drive European version comes with a 24-kilowatt-hour battery with a 190-kilometre range – that beats Mini Cooper SE’s 177 – and a version with a 42-kilowatt-hour battery and 320 kilometres of range.
In Europe, the price varies. For instance, in Germany, it starts at less than 31,000 euros (about $43,000).
So why bring it to North America? Olivier Francois, Fiat chief executive officer, said “the new 500e is more than a car, it is a social project to feed America’s appetite for change toward sustainable mobility.”
Translation: Fiat thinks there could be a demand for a smaller EV, even though 80 per cent of vehicles sold in the U.S. and Canada are trucks or SUVs.
Fiat will also be the first Stellantis brand in North America with a dedicated EV – it will be a test to see how EVs fare here for the company.
Plus, Bloomberg reports Stellantis may see the new 500e as a good fit in the U.S. for the Share Now car-sharing service it bought earlier this year.
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