Fiat hits accelerator on frill-free runarounds, despite political meddling

Fiat’s boss says insensitive politicians are putting the brakes on small, affordable, ‘no-frills’ petrol cars loved by consumers.

However, this will not stop the Italian company from producing them; as evidenced by the exciting models under construction.

That was the message from Fiat and Abarth CEO Olivier Francois when I interviewed him at the impressive Brussels Motor Show, which ends tomorrow.

He was speaking as Fiat launched a new petrol-electric hybrid version of its Fiat 500 supermini; This was created because customer demand for the pure electric 500e model was not strong enough, said Francois, also stating that the new hybrid will account for 70 percent of sales.

The 65bhp Fiat 500 Hybrid blends a one-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine with a 12V lithium-ion battery, is mated to a six-speed manual transmission and will arrive in the UK from late spring, priced at around £19,000.

Francois told me that Fiat (and from what I understand Citroen) is also working on a no-frills city car that is ‘small, affordable, simple and multi-engine’, will cost under £15,000 and be on the road by 2030.

As a cost-effective solution to unrealistic EU rules, it would be happy to limit the top speed of city cars to 73 mph to avoid driver safety technology designed for bigger, faster and more expensive cars.

Francois: ‘These cars are small, democratic and cheap; “It is bought by young people for their daily commute in the city,” he said.

‘We need to get back to basics, no frills. ‘We shouldn’t be forced to overload small cars with expensive equipment that customers don’t want or need.’

Francois believes politicians in the EU and the UK have also set unattainable targets for the proportion of electric cars that should be sold each year.

“They put idealism ahead of pragmatism,” he said, explaining that although electric cars were “great,” “people wouldn’t be able to afford them without rebate incentives.”

Also on display at the show is Fiat’s new QUBO L ‘people mover’, which is available as a five- or seven-seat diesel, petrol or electric model and is expected to be available in the UK in the autumn for under £25,000.

Fiat is also bringing a turbocharged, 1.2-litre, three-cylinder, manual-transmission petrol version of the new Grande Panda as a cheaper alternative to the hybrid and electric versions from £18,995 from March.

An SUV crossover and a fastback version will follow. A manual gasoline version of the Fiat 600 crossover will also arrive.

The Brussels Motor Show (autosalon.be) looks like a worthy successor to the Geneva Motor Show, which ended after the pandemic, with 67 brands including Kia, Ford, a number of Chinese brands as well as 28 bicycle manufacturers.