The combustion-powered Fiat 500 has been selling like hotcakes for years. Stellantis has replaced it with the electric Fiat 500e and has had to stop production because it sells poorly.

A few months ago, Fiat announced that it would expand the range of the Fiat 500e electric with a micro hybrid version, even though the Fiat 500e was initially conceived to be solely electric. Fiat made this decision due to the low sales of the zero-emission model.

Now, that same reason has caused Fiat to halt production of the electric 500e for a month. The problem is that there is still time before the new 500 Hybrid arrives, the model on which Fiat has placed so many hopes, in part, because it is destined to be the salvation of the Italian plant in Mirafiori (Turin) which is currently stopped.

Fiat bet on the electric car and it is going well

It is becoming common for a manufacturer to have to adjust its production due to the low demand for its electric cars. The latest to do so is Fiat; Starting today, the Italian brand will stop production of the Fiat 500e at its Mirafori plant (Italy) for four weeks. The reason is that it is not selling well enough, as the company’s parent company, Stellantis, has acknowledged in statements to Reuters:

“The measure is necessary due to the current lack of orders linked to the deep difficulties experienced by all producers, particularly European ones, in the European electric car market.”

Fiat launched the 500e in October 2021, its first zero-emission car. Sales were good at first, even though it coexisted with the previous-generation 500 micro hybrid (MHEV) until 2023, when this model was discontinued in Europe.

Sales of the 500e have been deflating year after year. In 2023, 77,260 units were sold and the forecast for this year is that fewer than 50,000 units will be sold. Mirafiori, the Turin plant where it is manufactured, has a capacity for more than 100,000 cars per year and they expected to sell 80,000 units of the 500e per year.

As sales figures are unsustainable for Stellantis and for the Turin plant, Fiat announced a few months ago that it will expand the 500 range with a micro hybrid version that will sell better than the 500e (Fiat intends for it to be as successful as the previous 500 MHEV).

According to Gaetano Thorel, Fiat’s European director, between 100,000 and 110,000 units of this new hybrid version of the 500 should be manufactured per year. This would allow better use to be made of the production capacity of the historic model. Stellantis plant in Mirafiori where now only the electric 500e is manufactured and employs around 1,200 workers.

With this decision, Fiat is backtracking and changing its plans because the Fiat 500e was supposed to be exclusively an electric model. However, it has become clear that sales of this model are not going well and that the new 500 hybrid seems to be the solution for Fiat to recover.

The problem is that the new Fiat 500 hybrid will not arrive until early 2026, so Fiat faces a transition period while sales of the 500e continue to fall, to the point of halting production.

“The brand is working hard to manage this difficult transition phase in the best possible way,” Fiat said, also in statements to Reuters. Part of its efforts include investing 100 million euros in the Mirafiori plant to adapt the production chain to the future 500 hybrid and a version of the 500e with a larger battery that will make this model more attractive.

“The Mirafiori complex is undergoing a profound transformation with the aim of turning it into a true site of innovation and global development, a key option if we want to face the challenge of the transition to sustainable mobility to which we are called,” Stellantis commented.

By now, you might be wondering why, given the situation, Fiat has not continued selling the previous-generation 500 Hybrid. It would probably still do very well commercially in Europe, certainly better than the electric 500e, but there is an explanation for why it is not sold in our market: the GSR 2 safety standard, which came into force on July 7, 2024, condemned it in Europe.

It is still being manufactured in Algeria (Africa) and is sold in other markets, but it cannot be manufactured in ours. In any case, even if this car were to continue being manufactured and sold in Europe, it would not solve the problems facing the Stellantis plant in Mirafiori because it was produced at the Stellantis plant in Tychy (Poland).

We will see if the new 500 hybrid is the solution for Fiat to improve its sales figures and the legendary Mirafiori plant to get out of the slump it is currently in.