Fiat 500 Hybrid: city car to get new powertrain before the end of 2025
The decision to make the Fiat 500 electric-only is being unpicked with costly engineering
Fiat will introduce a hybrid drivetrain into the 500 city car before the end of 2025 – and for head of Europe Gaetano Thorel it can't come a moment too soon.
The electric Fiat 500, introduced in 2020, is a sweet car. But sales have been limited because it's fishing in a small market segment, made even smaller by its strictly zero emissions powertrain.
"The new 500 is one of the best cars Fiat has ever had from a design and technology standpoint," Thorel told Auto Express exclusively in Turin. "The fact that we have limited the possibility for the majority of consumers to enjoy the new 500 really makes me very sad. So when the engineers found a way to put the engine inside, giving us the go [ahead] for the new 500 hybrid, it was one of the best days of my life."
Fiat's engineering team has revamped the electric architecture to shoehorn the powertrain of the previous 500 hybrid – now off UK sale – into the nose. "It was an engineering challenge," admits Thorel. Removing the battery has not freed up any additional cockpit or trunk space, Thorel asserts, with the main interior difference being the installation of a manual stickshift.
The engine is the 1.0-litre naturally aspirated 'Firefly' three-cylinder, with a 12-volt mild hybrid power boost and stop/start capability coming from a belt-integrated starter generator. The drivetrain was in the last generation Fiat Panda as well as the old 500, which dated back to 2007. It typically produces around 68bhp.
The forthcoming 500 Hybrid will look very similar to the 500e, despite the changes under the skin. Fiat has just shared images of the first pre-production units rolling out of its Mirafiori plant in Turin - ahead of a November launch. The images also reveal the hybrid will use a 10.25-inch touchscreen and naturally has a different dash layout to the current 500e's.
The name ‘Hybrid’ also looks set to change to ‘Ibrida’ (Italian for ‘hybrid’) – a move shared with fellow Stellantis brand Alfa Romeo with its new mild-hybrid Junior Ibrida.
The 500 Ibrida is not using the same mild-hybrid technology that Fiat’s parent company Stellantis has installed in numerous models, including the Fiat 600 compact SUV, Peugeot 208 and Vauxhall Corsa. They use a turbocharged 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine, paired with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with an integrated electric motor, which can propel the cars for short distances on pure electric power.
Don't get excited thinking the six-speed 'box presages an Abarth replacement for the 595 hot hatch. Speaking to us on an earlier occasion, Gaetano Thorel emphasised that the engine was more for affordable motoring than performance: “The new 500 hybrid that will be built in Mirafiori [in Italy], its micro hybrid engine [is] nothing spectacular.”
Instead, the company is pouring investment into new models: a midsize SUV and Fastback plus a Grande Panda 4x4. Those cars, along with the 100 million Euro investment in the 500e that includes redesigning its platform and potentially fitting new battery tech, rules out an indulgence such as a new baby Abarth.
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