Stellantis to bring tiny Fiat car to U.S. following Trump remarks
Stellantis plans to offer the Fiat Topolino, an all-electric quadricycle vehicle, in the US
Stellantis
DETROIT – Chrysler’s parent company Stellantis In the US on Monday, Fiat announced it would offer a small all-electric “car” called the Topolino
The automaker did not announce the timing of the vehicle, but Fiat CEO Olivier François approved plans will launch the vehicle “with more details next year.”
Fiat’s announcement comes less than a week after President Donald Trump praised small “Kei” cars from Japan during a meeting with Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa and other U.S. lawmakers and auto executives at the White House.
“They’re so little. They’re really, really cute,” Trump said at Wednesday’s meeting. “And I said, ‘How can this happen in this country?’ I said. And everyone thinks they’re ‘good’ but you’re not allowed to build them.”
Trump said he had instructed US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to allow small vehicles such as Kei “micro” cars to be produced and used in the US. It’s not necessarily illegal for such cars to be produced in America, but they must meet American safety standards, speed requirements and other regulations.
A Stellantis spokesman said Fiat’s announcement was unrelated to Trump’s comments last week and that the automaker was gauging customer interest in the Topolino at U.S. events such as auto shows.
Topolino, which means “little mouse” in Italian, is actually classified as a “fully electric quadricycle” rather than a car. Stellantis. It has a top speed of approximately 28 miles per hour and a driving range of up to 75 kilometers (less than 50 miles) on a single charge. The vehicle is produced in Morocco.
Small cars have historically not sold well in the US
The last significant push into small car sales in the US came after the Great Recession of 2009 under the Obama administration. At the time, Italian automaker Fiat was allowed to buy bankrupt automaker Chrysler, in part to help bring such vehicles to the United States.
Fiat and its small 500 city car re-entered the US market in 2011 with Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler (both now owned by Stellantis).
Fiat sold 43,772 vehicles in the United States in its first full year in 2012. Those sales have since fallen to about 1,500 Fiat vehicles sold in the U.S. last year.
