Summary
- Launch of new hybrid 500 expected in November
- Features 12 volt lithium battery
- Plans upgraded 500 EV in 2027 costing 20,000 euros
TURIN, Italy, (Reuters) – Fiat aims to manufacture over 100,000 units per year of its new hybrid 500 small car, a model parent Stellantis bets on to revive its ailing production in Italy, the brand’s head Olivier Francois said on Friday.
Stellantis, which was created in 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA-Peugeot, last year manufactured 475,000 vehicles in Italy, from over 751,000 in 2023, with car production in particular down 46% to its lowest since 1956.
That was due to a mix of factors including low market demand, in particular for electric vehicles (EV), growing competition from Asian manufacturers and plants reworking for new model launches.
“That’s the 500 for real people, the pragmatic 500,” Francois said during a media preview of the car, when some prototypes of it were shown to press.
The new hybrid 500, to be manufactured from November in the Mirafiori complex in Turin, Italy, along its existing fully electric (EV) version, will cost 17,000 euros ($20,000), Francois said. It will feature a 12-volt lithium battery.
The automaker plans to produce 5,000 units this year, he added.
Production of the 500 EV, which costs almost 30,000 euros, amounted to just 25,000 units last year, with Mirafiori suffering several stoppages due to low demand and workers put on furloughs.
The Fiat CEO said the brand has plans to introduce an upgraded and more affordable version of the 500 EV in 2027, with a targeted selling price of “20,000 euros or even less”, mainly thanks to batteries that will be made in-house.
Stellantis is also working on the new generation of the 500, expected around 2030, to be produced in Mirafiori.
“We’re designing it now, it will be electric and also hybrid depending on regulation and market response in coming years,” Francois said.
($1 = 0.8490 euros)
Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing by Alvise Armellini and Louise Heavens
Source: worldautoforum.com
