Halted Fiat 500e Gains New Hybrid Offshoot

The latest-gen and electric-only Fiat 500e has gained a new combustion (ICE)-powered Fiat 500 Hybrid offshoot. Pictured is the pre-production version.

Stellantis-owned Italian marque Fiat was initially ambitious with its plans to go electric-only with one of its signature best-selling nameplates – the much-loved 500. In fact, the move backfired badly that production of the Fiat 500e suspended several times last year.

Now, the Italian firm instead revealed and confirmed revised new plans to mass-produce a new hybrid-powered offshoot. Aptly christened as the Fiat 500 Hybrid, the automaker has set a firm production target of 5,000 units by year’s end, and 100,000 units annually after.

Fiat execs with the new Fiat 500 Hybrid, which is set to come off the same Mirafiori production line as its slower-selling 500e EV twin.

According to sources online, this bold move was borne out of the need to raise production rates at the Mirafiori plant amidst slowed sales of the 500e – and its hotter Abarth twin. The latter was also one of the key reasons prompting the model’s paused production.

The announcement included a set of new images showing the new Fiat 500 Hybrid in pre-production state. Visually, this hybrid guise appears identical to the electric-only 500e inside and out. The only notable change is the redesigned – and functional – front grille.

On board, visual changes are equally mild too. Retained is the 500e’s 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment, which is housed in a dash that features a larger and squarer new storage cubby plus an elevated shift lever alongside the steering wheel.

Visually, the Fiat 500 Hybrid is identical with the 500e EV, the only exterior difference being the reworked - and functional - front grille.

Interestingly, this new hybrid offshoot shares the same base chassis platform construction as the original electric (EV) variant. In fact, Fiat has managed to retrofit the previous-gen 500 model’s 1.0-litre (964cc) 3-cyl ‘FireFly’ mild hybrid (MHEV) mill here.

The latter, which is the result of an unprecedented move in the industry, boasts a claimed peak power output of 70 HP and 92 NM. It also comes paired with a 6-speed manual transmission. For now, there’s no mention of an automatic transmission option yet.

With the EV version’s 24 kWh and 42 kWh battery packs removed, it’s safe to assume the new 500 Hybrid to weigh significantly less than said EV version. For reference, the 500e weighed about 1,255 KG (24 kWh) and 1,340 KG (42 kWh).

What's unprecedented here is the fact that this ICE-powered offshoot shares the same base as the model's initial EV version, with Fiat retro-fitting its tried-and-tested 1.0-litre 3-cyl MHEV mill here too.

Whilst Fiat didn’t dish out much details, it did elect instead to announce the model’s €17,000 (approx. RM84,517) starting price in its Italian home market – a €5,000 (RM24,858) reduction from the 500e EV version.

It will take time to ascertain for sure if this strategy of going back to a hybrid ICE powertrain worked. Nonetheless, this reversal is yet another evident reflection of key automakers having to walk back on their initial pledges of going fully electric by 2030.