Fiat said Friday that it planned to be all-electric by 2030, joining a lot of automakers in going big or all-in on electric then. That also so happens to coincide with the same year that a lot of countries are banning or planning to ban sales of combustion-engine cars, while many cities want them out.
From Autocar:
“Between 2025 and 2030, our product line-up will gradually become electric only. This will be a radical change for Fiat,” said Fiat boss Olivier François.
“The decision to launch the new 500 – electric and electric alone – was actually taken before Covid-19. Even then, we were already aware that the world could not take any more compromises. We were reminded of the urgency of taking action, of doing something for the planet Earth.”
Fiat doesn’t have many details for now, but it’s remarkable how quickly automakers can kick their shit into gear when regulations loom.
...the brand says production will not be limited to city cars. In 2019, it unveiled the Centoventi Concept EV, which effectively previewed a next-generation Fiat Panda. While that car is likely to use the Fiat-developed small platform that underpins the new 500, it is likely the firm will also develop EVs on Stellantis’s STLA platform, which is used by the Peugeot e208 and Vauxhall Corsa-e.
It’s also unclear what this means for Fiat in America, as Fiat has bailed on the 500e here, and, for now, is soldiering on with gas versions of the 500X, 500L, and 124 Spyder, though the 124 is leaving soon after Fiat earlier also killed the base 500. Also dead soon here is the 500L, leaving the 500X as the sole survivor.
This looks, in many ways, like Fiat preparing to pull the plug altogether on America, though I could also see a situation where it stays but with electric cars instead, like its new 500 Electric. Because it’s not like the point of having Fiat in the U.S. is to make money, and America could use an affordable electric. I hope Fiat is game.