Fiat 500 returns to US in 2024 as pure EV

U.S. followers of the Fiat 500 can sit up for a brand new, totally electrical technology of the pint-sized hatchback making it to those shores in early 2024.

Fiat plans to make a proper announcement in a while Wednesday on the 2022 Los Angeles auto present, the place it should current three one-off examples of the automotive with designs impressed by well-known Italian vogue and life-style manufacturers Armani, Bvlgari, and Kartell.

The five hundred was final bought within the U.S. in 2019, in each gasoline and 500e electrical guises. A redesigned, totally electrical 500 was launched abroad in 2021, and this third-generation mannequin is the model that can launch right here in in 2024, badged a 500e.

“The brand new 500e is greater than a automotive, it’s a social venture to feed America’s urge for food for change towards sustainable mobility,” Olivier Francois, Fiat’s CEO, stated in a press release. “We wish to introduce America to EVs with our icon, the Fiat 500, as a result of that is the fitting factor to do.”

The U.S.-spec 500e will make its debut in a yr’s time on the 2023 Los L.A. auto present, at which era Fiat is prone to have a feisty Abarth model prepared, although it is not clear whether or not the Abarth may also be out there within the U.S.

The brand new electrical 500 is barely bigger than the earlier, second-generation mannequin. It measures about 2.4 inches longer and wider. The wheelbase has additionally been stretched by 0.8 inches, which ought to translate to extra space within the cabin.

In Europe, the largest battery on supply is a 42-kwh unit, however an even bigger battery might find yourself within the U.S.-spec 500e. The European model additionally has a most output of 117 hp.

Manufacturing is dealt with completely at father or mother firm Stellantis’ Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy. The plant was not too long ago given an $800 million improve to arrange it for EV manufacturing, together with future EVs from fellow Stellantis model Maserati.