With its new 500, Fiat did not want to follow Smart's strategy
- The FCA group unveiled earlier this year the battery electric Fiat 500e. It will be on sale from October. Even if its silhouette remains close to the Fiat 500 marketed until then, the model is different as the dimensions have increased (+6 cm in length and +6 cm in width) and few parts are common. The cabin design is also completely reviewed. In addition, the new Fiat 500e is not produced in Tichy in Poland as for the thermal version, but in Mirafiori in Italy.
- However, Fiat did not choose the strategy of Smart, by marketing the new 500 only in a battery electric version, which would have caused a fall in sales of Fiat 500, in a magnitude of 80 to 90%, because the electric version is more expensive, around 15,000 euros (15,000 euros for the entry-level thermal and 30,000 euros for the 500e). And European customers, especially Italian, are not 100% adept of electric cars. An 80-90% drop in Fiat 500 sales is equivalent to a loss of around 150,000 vehicles per year, and the carmaker was unwilling to take such a risk.
- As a result, FCA offers two Fiat 500 today: the classic 500 with a combustion engine, produced in Tichy and which keep the old body launched in 2007, and the 500e produced at Mirafiori, which benefits from a new body.
- The question of the thermal Fiat 500 remains: will it continue to pursue its career with the same body as the current one or whether it could soon take over the more modern body of the 500e? And if so, will the thermal Fiat 500 production be transferred to the Mirafiori plant, leaving the Tichy plant without activity, despite lower costs production in Poland?
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