Fiat Sets The Roadmap For Its Huge All-Electric Transition

Fiat plans to go all-EV, transitioning the automaker's range from 2025 as it shifts away from internal combustion. The announcement follows Fiat's decision to only make an electric version of the new 500, its iconic city car.

Announced last March, the latest Fiat 500 was an abrupt turnaround from the automaker's previous 500e. Then, the electric version of the car was hardly popular among those responsible for Fiat's finances: then-CEO Sergio Marchionne memorably said that he hoped the EV wouldn't be bought, as it cost the company $14k every time one was sold.

This time around, though, the numbers appear to be on firmer ground. The new 500 – which is not available in North America – has up to 199 miles of range on the WLTP cycle, 85kW of DC fast charging support, and a sticker price from £29k ($40,000) before any incentives. There's no gasoline or diesel version, either.

"It is our duty to bring to market electric cars that cost no more than those with an internal combustion engine, as soon as we can, in line with the falling costs of batteries," Olivier François, Fiat CEO and Stellantis CMO, said today. "We are exploring the territory of sustainable mobility for all: this is our greatest project. Between 2025 and 2030, our product line-up will gradually become electric-only. This will be a radical change for Fiat."

Certainly, the new electric 500 is a much more compelling prospect as an EV than the old 500e ever was. The discontinued model – yanked from the American line-up in 2019 – boasted only an 87 mile range on a full charge, for example.

Cars, though, are only half of the battle. FCA said back in January that it would be refurbishing a factory in Poland, for example, where it would be focusing on electric models across the Jeep, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo brands. That'll help cater to Jeep's ambitions to expand its plug-in hybrid models like the new Wrangler 4xe; Alfa Romeo, meanwhile, is working on an all-electric SUV which it has said it hopes to reveal in 2022.

Now part of Stellantis, the merged FCA and Peugeot Groupe, Fiat isn't the only company looking for an electric makeover this decade. Jaguar announced earlier this year that it, too, would be going all-EV from 2025. GM and Ford, meanwhile, will take a little longer to get to that stage, but have set ambitious carbon-neutral targets, among other things.