Fiat has been going through a bit of a rough patch in recent months. Excluding the Panda, of which the new Pandina version was recently unveiled, the other models are struggling greatly on the market, starting with the Fiat 500e, whose sales are in continuous decline. Due to these less than positive sales, production at Mirafiori plant is on hold until September, in the hope that with the arrival of incentives in Italy, the situation may improve in its domestic market. However, according to Mike Rutherford, editorial director of Autoexpress Magazine, Fiat’s problems are not just down to a lack of incentives.
Fiat criticized by Mike Rutherford for high prices and a limited range
Commenting on the UK’s decision to continue not to subsidize green car purchases, with a great deal of controversy from Tavares, the journalist writes, referring to the Stellantis CEO: “I’m surprised he found the time to criticize the UK’s ‘terrible’ electric vehicle policy, more terrible than the countless Vauxhall workers recently laid off in the UK and, before that, the closure of Peugeot’s Ryton plant and all the jobs that went with it, Mr. T?”.
According to Rutherford, Fiat in the UK should rely less on government subsidies and “focus more on resolving its internal problems, including a too-small and overpriced model range,” emphasizing that the Fiat 500e, which is considered “modest,” costs from £30,000 upwards.
“It’s no wonder that sales are down in the first quarter of 2024 and that Fiat’s share of the UK market is less than 1%,” Rutherford adds. The emblem of this situation is the 500e, which now appears obsolete compared to other electric city cars that have just been launched or are about to be launched on the market. Just consider the Citroen e-C3, which costs much less and offers the same range and better technology. The small Italian city car recently made its debut in the United States as well, and we are waiting for the official data in the coming months to see if this market will also reflect European sales.