Fiat only recently jumped on the electric car bandwagon. The brand launched its first EV, the Fiat 500e, in 2020. It then took three years for the company to broaden its electric car range with the family-focused 600e and city-slicking Topolino. Now, though, Fiat is planning a rapid expansion of its line-up with three new cars planned for launch between now and 2026.
Fiat hasn’t gone into too much detail about how the new cars will look, but we expect they’ll all feature an electric powertrain as an option, if not as standard. They’ll also lean on the technology made available to the brand from its new Stellantis partners.
Fiat has also set out its plans for how it will position itself in the market. The Italian brand’s boss, Olivier Francois, told Parkers he plans to keep Fiat focused on building small cars. ‘We don’t do big cars,’ he said. ‘We don’t do Teslas. Not that we wouldn’t like to, but this is just not our playground. When you speak of smaller cars, they can be between 3.6 metres to 4.5 metres. Let’s say we play in this magical 90 centimetres. That’s where we play.
‘The beauty of Stellantis is that we are a house of brands. Each brand must have a clear purpose and make money. But you need those two things. As Fiat, we make money and the group likes us. It’s fine. But we also have a purpose – and our purpose, which obviously doesn’t overlap with any others, is simplicity. Smaller cars. So, I won’t go luxury. No big cars, no sports cars.’
Scroll down for all the information you need to know about Fiat’s electric car strategy. We’ve listed all the company’s current EVs and given a brief overview of the brand’s upcoming models. We’ll update this page as soon as we know more about the company’s plans.
Fiat electric cars available in the UK now
Fiat 500e
The 500e has been a smash hit for Fiat. It takes the cutesy styling of the original 500 and pairs it with an engaging driving experience and a respectable official maximum range of 199 miles. The formula has delivered results, too. The 500e is currently the best-selling electric car in Stellantis, accounting for 60 percent of the group’s total EV sales alone.
Search for new and used Fiat 500es
Search for Fiat 500e lease deals
Fiat 600e
The 600e is Fiat’s pure-electric family car. It’s a jacked-up hatchback that shares its underpinnings with the Peugeot e-2008 and Jeep Avenger, netting buyers a maximum electric range of 250 miles and better practicality than the 500e. Fiat is pitching the 600e as a more style-led alternative to its group rivals, aiming to trade on the car’s brightly coloured paint palette and swoopy cabin.
Fiat Topolino
The Topolino isn’t on sale in the UK yet, but Fiat bosses have confirmed it’ll arrive on British shores in 2024. It’s an adorable pure-electric quadricycle that uses the same mechanicals as the Citroen Ami. That means it has a maximum range of 47 miles and a top speed of just 28mph. However, it’ll also have a starting price of around £8,000, making it an attractively affordable urban runabout.
Fiat electric cars worth waiting for
Fiat’s EV expansion will be fuelled by its membership of the Stellantis supergroup, as it’ll make use of the same e-CMP2 architecture found under the facelifted Peugeot e-2008. We expect the company’s next electric car, which will break cover in July 2024, will use a simplified version of the same chassis.
Fiat hasn’t yet nailed down its plans for 2024, but the company’s boss has hinted the new car will be a replacement for the Panda. It’ll use the 2019 Centoventi concept (pictured below) as the muse for its design, featuring retro-chic boxy styling and rugged black plastic body cladding to both cut costs on production and protect the car from parking dings.
The company’s CEO, Olivier Francois, outlined his thinking, saying: ‘We want to occupy the B-segment. It’s too early to speak [about] it, but there’s probably room to make another B-segment more in the democratic, essential space. So, will this B-segment be a big A, you know, like the Panda or will it be something else? Too early to tell – but I think that clearly our offering in the around four metre cars could accommodate another product.’
Fiat is also planning a smaller, entry-level EV. It’ll probably become one of the three cars destined for launch between now and 2026, but Fiat hasn’t yet revealed any details about it. We questioned Francois on whether his company could ever build another car like the back-to-basics 1980s Panda in the modern era. He told us: ‘I’d love that. It’s surely something that is in our cassetto di sogni – our drawer of dreams. But it’s not an easy one.’
Francois is still mulling over how to build this small EV. He’s faced with two options – either build it on the same architecture as the 500e or turn the car into a heavy quadricycle of the same ilk as the Renault Twizy. Either way, he’s told us that he isn’t afraid to cut features out of the car to make the project affordable for both the company and the customer.
He said: ‘In a world of cars that are as close as you can get to autonomous driving, are there some features that the client can objectively live without? I’m sure, yes. Am I ready to sacrifice on these features? Oh yes. Hell yes. Because the client does not care, doesn’t want to pay for it. It’s already expensive.’
