The New Fiat 500 Electric Offers a Lot on Paper, but Will We Get It Here?

Fiat has taken the wraps off the production version of the 500 Electric this year, and it looks exactly what the brand could need to kick start its U.S. presence amid an aging lineup. And it’s not just a hatchback bodystyle but a total of three variants, with the latest version being an innovative 3+1 hatch. But whether we’ll get any of these stateside remains to be seen.

The third version, unveiled after the two-door hatch and cabriolet, has two doors on its starboard side, allowing easier ingress and egress for rear seat passengers.

For a very small car, the new 500 actually offers quite a bit of range. There are two battery options on the menu, and the top version with 42 kWh on tap has a range of 199 miles in the slightly optimistic WLTP cycle, as well as a top speed of 93 mph. The base version still has 23.8 kWh on tap, giving it a range of 112 miles in the WLTP cycle and a top speed of 84 mph. But those 112 miles can transform to something closer to 150 miles in purely city driving, so even the base model won’t be darting between charging stations. Confined to city streets, the longer-range version should even be able to stretch its range to 285 miles.

The longer-range 500 is powered by an 87-kW electric motor, which gives it 118 hp and a leisurely sprint time of 9.0 seconds from standstill to 62 mph, while the 70-kW motor in the 23.8-kWh battery version with 93 hp still clocks in under 10 seconds. Both are capable of DC fast charging, with the 42-kWh version being able to juice up to 80% capacity in 35 minutes thanks to 85-kW charging.

The 500 will offer three driving modes: Normal, Range and Sherpa.

“When the remaining range is low, ‘Sherpa’ mode can be engaged to optimize the available resources to ensure the destination is reached,” the automaker says. “‘Sherpa’ driving mode works on several components to ensure either the destination set on the navigation system or the nearest charging station is reached whilst the New 500 still has enough charge.”

Does the 500 Electric of these sound like your (very small) cup of espresso?

There’s more, including Level 2 autonomous driving, traffic sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking and a driver attention monitoring system. That’s right: Level 2 autonomy will be offer in the 500, which Fiat says will be the first car in its segment to offer this level of semi-autonomous driving. ADAS systems will include automatic emergency braking, which include pedestrian and cyclist detection, and lane keeping assist. And, of course, there’ll be nothing short of a 10.25-inch infotainment screen.

This already sounds like a small Tesla, doesn’t it? (Tesla is said to be working on a sub-Model 3 offering, by the way).

The 500 is going on sale now in the number of European markets, and will start at around $30,000, before the application of various national incentives, which will shave thousands more off its price. Were it to be offered here, it could well start around $23,000 after the application of a federal EV credit, becoming one of the least expensive EVs on the market.

Of course, Fiat’s reluctance to offer it here could be tied to its “European city” range, despite the fact that the U.S. market certainly has a car like that in the form of the Mini SE. But there are other business considerations, of course, including the overall sales volume of sub-compact hatchbacks in the U.S., which now barely exist as a segment. It’s certainly telling that VW did not make the decision to launch the ID.3 hatch stateside, only making plans to allow the ID.4 pocket SUV into the country.

Even if Fiat does not eventually offer the 500 Electric here, it cannot keep the rest its model range out of the U.S. for much longer, because this model range is already small and fairly dated.

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