The brand’s boss sees the car as an experimental vehicle to explore new business models, use cases and ownership forms.
This week, Fiat announced something surprising: The Italian car brand will bring an electric version of their stylish city car back to the US, several years after removing it from the market.
The return of the Fiat 500e is a bit tricky. After all, Americans love supersize cars, with trucks and sport utility vehicles accounting for nearly 80% of new car sales last month. The cute little cinquecento might be just right for navigating medieval Europe’s alleyways, but driving on the highway amid giant pickup trucks and three-row SUVs can make one feel feel a bit vulnerable.
Olivier Francois, the global head of the Fiat brand, is undaunted. He showed off three concept versions of the electric 500 at the Los Angeles auto show on Thursday and said the model will return to US showrooms in 2024.
This is just the latest twist in the already fascinating history of the Fiat and 500 in the US. Sergio Marchionne, the great CEO who passed away suddenly in 2018, brought the brand and cars back to America more than a decade ago as part of a deal with then-President Barack Obama.
Marchionne used her masterful negotiation skills to persuade the Obama administration during the financial crisis to let Fiat pull Chrysler out of bankruptcy without paying a dime for the original 20% ownership stake. . What Fiat brought in was the platform and powertrain for competitive small cars that Chrysler lacked (Obama famously asked the question why Detroit’s ailing automakers couldn’t make a Corolla. .)
The Fiat 500 debuted in 2011 with an enticing ad campaign featuring Jennifer Lopez. The battery-powered version that followed ensured that Chrysler could continue to sell its lucrative Jeep SUVs and Ram pickup trucks in the California-led states, which have stricter regulations on car ownership. emissions.
Sales never met expectations. The outspoken Marchionne once lamented that he lost $20,000 for every 500 electrics he sold and asked consumers not to buy it. He said shortly after Fiat returned to the US that success in the highly competitive US market was obvious.
“We thought we were going to show up and just because people like gelato and pasta, people would buy it,” he said at the 2012 Detroit auto show. “This makes no sense. .”
Unlike last time, the 500e will not be produced in North America. Stellantis will import it from Fiat’s electric vehicle hub in Turin, Italy.
The car was a success in Europe, ranking third this year as of September. It sold for around €22,000 ($22,800) after the deal and offered a 150-mile battery range.
I asked Francois if this was Fiat’s attempt to make electric cars available to the masses, something Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares often says is essential.
Francois suggested that Fiat bring the car back to the US as a kind of guinea pig: an experimental vehicle to explore new business models, use cases, and forms of ownership.
“The real return on investment of this project is learning, intelligence,” he told me. “We have nothing to lose and everything to win.”
Although Francois doesn’t mention it, the Fiat 500 will work well with Stellantis’ Free2Move, the car-sharing and subscription business that’s been in business since 2016. lock the code to operate profitably.
Car-sharing works best in crowded urban centers, exactly where Francois plans to market the new 500e. It’s an obvious fit.
