Fiat sells so few copies of the all-electric 500e that a number of the cars that cannot be sold are now being converted into petrol hybrids.
When it comes to electric cars, it is far from what Fiat sells the most. In fact, sales of the all-electric Fiat 500e are lagging so much that the Stellantis group, which owns the brand, has taken a drastic decision.
The cars are simply converted into small hybrids with petrol engines. Even though the Fiat 500e is actually built on a platform that is only intended for electric cars.
Reuters writes that.
It is Stellanti's chief executive Carlos Tavares who this week announced the decision, which means that the two almost identical cars will be built at Fiat's historic Mirafiori factory in Turin.
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Sales of the electric 500e are so bad that the employees have to be sent on long periods of leave. If they don't get fired.
In January this year, Stellantis chose to dismiss 2,250 employees at the factory. More than half of them worked at the assembly line that churned out the electric Fiat 500e.
Fiat is also finding it very difficult to meet its own targets when it comes to the sale of the small electric car. At the beginning of 2023, the brand had hoped for 90,000 cars per year. It has only become 77,000.
According to a trade union representative, Fiat will start building the hybrid versions of the otherwise electric model in 2026. However, the trade union representative cannot say anything more precise. Nor about the number of cars.
However, the fact that electric cars are not selling in the expected numbers is far from Fiat's only problem. The Italian authorities recently seized more than 100 new cars that the brand was trying to bring into the country. Read more about it here .
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