- Fiat will shut its Mirafiori manufacturing unit down for 4 weeks, beginning Friday.
- Stellantis claims that it is because of low demand for the two-door EV metropolis automobile.
Information of an “EV slowdown” definitely is a headline grabber; though gross sales of EVs proceed to develop throughout the globe, that progress isn’t holding tempo with entrenched automakers’s unique plans to shortly and seamlessly shunt ICE automobile patrons into EVs, isn’t going all that easily. Many automakers have reevaluated their EV plans, inflicting them to fast-track once-sidelined ICE automobile tasks, and hit the brakes on their EV merchandise.
The newest sufferer of a softer-than-expected EV market? The Fiat 500e. In accordance with reporting from Reuters, Stellantis introduced that will probably be idling the plant that produces the two-door electrical metropolis automobile for 4 weeks, partly attributable to poor demand. Stellantis instructed Reuters that this measure was essential as a result of there weren’t sufficient orders inside and outdoors Europe to maintain the output from the Italian manufacturing unit. The shutdown interval will begin this Friday, and final for 4 weeks.
At present, the Fiat 500e is simply made in a single manufacturing unit—the Mirafiori manufacturing unit in Torino, Italy. It is a historic manufacturing unit, located within the hometown of Fiat itself. It’s additionally the location of Italy’s Automotive labor union grumbling — native staff need a increased quantity, extra inexpensive mannequin to be constructed on the plant, as a substitute of simply the Fiat 500e. Thus, Stellantis will make investments $110 million within the plant and undertake what it calls a “increased efficiency battery,” to provide a hybrid model of the brand new 500e in the identical plant.
Though there’s a very actual softening of EV demand, I can’t assist however assume that a part of the shortage of demand for the 500e is partially attributable to Stellantis not holding the mannequin present sufficient. Coincidentally, I’ve a 500e on mortgage from the producer this week. My full driving impressions will are available an extended kind, however the 500e’s cute styling and charming driving dynamics can’t overcome its horrible worth proposition. Even in Europe, the place patrons are extra keen to pay a premium for smaller EVs with much less vary, the 500e isn’t the one choice as when it launched in 2020 for many European markets.
Simply take into account this: in Italy alone, a base mannequin Fiat 500e is 29,950 EUR for a 93-horsepower mannequin with a dinky 24 kWh battery. An MG 4 could possibly be had for not far more at 31,970 EUR. The MG 4 has 51 kWh, 168 horsepower, a usable again seat and an additional set of doorways. Even in Stellantis’s personal umbrella, the Peugeot e-208, and bigger Fiat 600e aren’t all that rather more than the 500e, however they provide extra vary and house.
Fiat was adamant that the period of the $ 49-per-month lease would by no means come again. However, I don’t see a approach out right here: the Fiat 500e’s Achilles heel is its excessive value. If Fiat needs to get extra individuals in seats, it wants to determine a technique to deliver the worth down. That’s not simple, subsidies and intelligent accounting to get lease costs artificially low aren’t wholesome for the model. Maybe the hybrid mannequin due in 2025 or 2026 will get extra individuals behind the wheel.
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