Fiat making ready to say ‘ciao’ to the 500X in america

Fiat’s 500X crossover will enter the pantheon of automotive historical past with out a successor. Ending years of rumors and hypothesis, the corporate confirmed that the soft-roader won’t get replaced in america as soon as manufacturing of the current-generation mannequin ends. 

As we reported from the L.A. Auto Present, the 500X might be discontinued after it reaches the top of its life cycle. “When it dies, it dies. We won’t change it,” Fiat boss Olivier François confirmed to Motor Pattern.

With the Mazda MX-5 Miata-based 124 Spider and the 500L people-mover out of the image, the 500X is the final Fiat standing in america. Its demise hardly comes as a shock: Fiat offered merely 1,181 models in 2021, an 18% drop in comparison with 2020. 

François’ feedback douse chilly water on rumors claiming Fiat deliberate to merge the 500X and the 500L into one mannequin tentatively known as 500XL. When it does sail off into the historical past e book, the Jeep Renegade’s Italian cousin will move the torch to the electrical 500e, which has been on sale in Europe since 2020 however will not land in america till early 2024. Market-specific particulars might be introduced in 2023.

Fiat appears content material with providing a one-model vary in america. “We’ve got a transparent plan to not do something moreover the five hundred. It is the one mannequin folks like,” François candidly admitted. “Fiat will not be right here to be every thing to everybody in all places,” he added. And, the corporate is aware of a tiny EV with a spread score of beneath 200 miles might be a troublesome promote. François predicted American gross sales might be “a rounding error.”

European motorists see extra of the Fiat iceberg. The Turin-based firm notably nonetheless sells the last-generation 500 and its Abarth-tuned derivatives, which each left American showrooms in 2019. Its vary additionally contains the massively fashionable Panda metropolis automotive and the Tipo.