FIAT Will Introduce The 500e To The North American Market On Thursday!

Electric City Car Returns...

Robert S. Miller November 14, 2022

2022 Fiat 500e La Prima Hatchback. (FIAT).

Is the FIAT brand getting ready to launch the new 500e in the North American market? It appears so.

Fans have been puzzled as to why FIAT didn’t launch the new 500e in the North American market, soon after its European launch in 2020. The Italian has continued to struggle over the past decade after making its return to the North American market in 2010. However, since then has eliminated its entire lineup of vehicles except for the 500X, which shares much of its underpinnings with the rugged Jeep® Renegade.

Matter of fact, it was the North American market where the first-generation 500e made its exclusive debut. The first-generation 500e helped Chrysler Group meet California Air Resources Board (CARB) compliance, by offering an emission-free city car using a 111 horsepower (83 kW) and 147 lb.-ft. (199 N⋅m) of torque permanent-magnet, three-phase synchronous-drive electric motor, and a 24 kWh liquid-cooled/heated li-ion battery. The combination provided a lackluster 80 miles (130 kilometers) range or about 100 miles (160 kilometers) in the city.

It was said that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) lost over $20,000 per unit.

With only a hand full of manufacturers scheduled to make presentations at the LA Auto Show, FIAT is among them. Scheduled to make a “North American debut”, the brand dropped a hint earlier this afternoon with a close-up of the new 500e’s daytime running light (DRL) with the text “Feel The Electricity“ on its FIAT USA social media accounts.

The Italian brand has been teasing the newest generation of the 500e at events all this year. It was first spotted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022 in Las Vegas in January in its (RED) edition form. Then a pair of them said quietly at the back of the Stellantis exhibit at the New York International Auto Show.

The new 500e has a 199-mile (320-kilometer) range based on the European WLTP cycle and can achieve 249 miles (400 kilometers) of range in the city. It has become one of the most popular electric vehicles in Enlarged Europe, Japan, and Brazil. The new 500e is powered by a 117 horsepower (87 kW) electric motor fed by a 42 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.

The new powertrain can propel the 500e from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in 9.0 seconds. An 85 kW fast charger system that allows the 500e to charge enough to travel 31 miles (50 kilometers) in just 5 minutes. Fast charging capability allows the car to charge from 0 to 80% in just 35 minutes.

FIAT’s press conference is scheduled for this Thursday, November 17th from 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. PST. MoparInsiders.com, will be hosting the Livestream from the floor of the LA Auto Show and will have all the details on the vehicle posted soon after.

This week is proving to be a big one for the 500e, as the European market will be treated to the unveiling of the new Abarth 500e performance city car this following Tuesday, November 22nd. That event will also be shown live on MoparInsiders.com as well.

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bill burke Nov 15, 2022 #1

The Fiat brand is a successful brand in many parts of the world, dominant in some. There are few reasons why Fiat can not or should not be successful in the North American market. To accomplish that there is no better product and no better time to relaunch the brand here than this new 500 right now. Let’s be honest, they need to begin somewhere obviously.
The last Fiat launch, in spite of the incredibly amusing and witty commercials, was poorly planned and poorly executed. The original 500, was not only the wrong vehicle for the NA market at that time, but being launched with no supporting characters in a broader brand portfolio was just a major mistake. Fiat globally has so many excellent offerings, that together, could be the small,affordable, reliable brand that people here want. In spite of the close resemblance, this new 500 is completely redefined, more appealing and being all electric, spot on for today’s North American urban population. It needs company, it needs a clear, well defined segment and clear mission statement for consumers. However, most important, Fiat needs dealerships committed to implementing the plan and the Italian workers to deliver a reliable compact product line that underpins that plan and that puts that “Fix It Again Tony” legacy to rest once and for all. This new 500 must and can start that revival with clear focus and some company in showrooms. This 500 can be the urban electric like nothing else on the market, really. Move over Toyota, the Italians are returning in force. Good decision Fiat.

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Deckard Cain Nov 15, 2022 #2

Wow, awesome decision! I hope this is the start of bringing electrified Fiats to the US. Hope the Abarth version also goes to the US. :)
I think this model will be perfect for CARB markets.

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patfromigh Nov 15, 2022 #3

OK, I admit I'm biased. I believe that the original California compliance Fiat 500e was the best of all the compliances offered last decade. Many will argue that the Tesla powered Toyota RAV4, the Chevy Spark with its Volt technology in the mix, or the VW E-Golf was better. Out of all of the compliance cars only FCA seems to have used the opportunity to use it as a research and development program. The new Fiat 500e is better in many ways while staying true to the original formula. Fiat addressed the weaknesses and built upon the strengths. The competitors have all introduced battery EVs which don't use the powertrain technology of the originals. Toyota's program has fluctuated since they fell out with Tesla. They haven't outsourced the engineering unlike some of the others.

RostHaus Nov 15, 2022 #4

Agree. The original 500e was my first EV, because they were insanely cheap coming off lease. It's lead to 2 more EVs being added. i3 and ipace. It's only 2 major faults in a modern EV market is it's range and lack of rapid charging. Other than that, it's a blast of a city car. I've told myself I'm keeping it until the abarth electric makes it to the states.

I think Fiat missed an opportunity to improve the original 500e over it's life cycle. They could have improved it like BMW did with the i3 or Nissan with the leaf. Which would have been easily done by Fiat because the same Samsung prismatic line of cells in the Fiat were also in the i3. Had the last couple of years 500e had say 150+mile range and a rapid charging, it would have been a great seller in the metro US.