Fiat 500 – an Italian legend has evolved to full-electric

The Fiat 500 has always been an extremely important vehicle for Italy. The first, historical one, was built in 1957 and it literally was the car that allowed so many people to afford for the first time a personal vehicle. That’s why it’s relatively easy, even today, to find an original Fiat 500 in decent conditions for a fair price.

This iconic car saw again the sunlight in 2007 when Fiat decided to bring it back from ashes. As you probably know, the idea has been a huge success and for many years this cool but cheap city car drove the company’s sales by itself (together with Panda). Now, it’s time to evolve once more.

The challenge is tough. You know that Italians don’t like cars that don’t burn fuel, but their nostalgia for the good old 500 might turn the tables.

By looking at it, you can immediately recognize the same iconic style that made the original Fiat 500 famous. Round lines, compact body, squared lights. Nevertheless, this is a completely new car, from the outside to the inside. It’s 3630mm long, so don’t expect to be comfortable if you’re going to sit behind, but you’ll be absolutely able to chill in the front seats. Of course, the boot is particularly small, with just 185l of capacity.

The biggest leap forward is to find into the quality of the plastics. Sure, some of them are still rigid, but they feel a lot better than before and the new 10” display helps to deliver a better cabin overall.

The car is equipped with a centrally-mounted 42 kWh battery made by Samsung which should guarantee about 300km (186 miles) and it supports fast charge (30 mins for 75%). Maybe it’s not an outstanding result, but it should be more than enough for an ultra-compact city car. The battery produces 118 hp and 220 Nm of torque.

 

 

As mentioned, everything has been renewed. For example, now the suspensions are more comfortable to use in the traffic and the seats are softer, too.

You’ll get to choose between two models: Passion and Icon. The former will cost about €30,000 while the latter will be €31,400. The versions are quite similar, it’s just a matter of optional equipment.