Fiat is going to pause production of the electric 500e on September 13 due to a lack of demand, according to Reuters. EV sales in Europe are down across the board, with August’s 33% drop making it the slowest month since January 2023. Slower European sales, coupled with low demand for the 500e means Fiat needs to pause production at its Turin, Italy factory. Production will be down for four weeks.
“The measure is necessary due to the current lack of orders linked to the deep difficulties experienced in the European electric [car] market by all producers, particularly the European ones,” said Stellantis in a statement, per Reuters.
This production shutdown is happening only months after the Fiat 500e went on sale in North America. The subcompact EV has been on sale in Europe since 2020 but only hit U.S. dealerships this year. However, the temporary production pause shouldn’t affect U.S. sales too much, considering that the current dealership inventory is plentiful—Fiat’s website shows 904 new 500es on dealership lots nationwide—and demand isn’t exactly high, with Fiat only selling 204 500es so far this year.
The Fiat 500, in any form, has never been a big seller in the U.S., so its slow sales here aren’t really surprising. However, according to U.K.-based data analytics company Jato Dynamics, Fiat 500 sales were down 24% in Europe from January to July versus the same period last year. “The lack of clarity around the incentives for and [sic] future of EVs continues to present a barrier to consumers considering an EV,” Jato Dynamics analyst Felipe Munoz said, according to Autocar. “These factors, alongside the low residual value of EVs, contributed to the decline seen in July.”
This isn’t even the first time that 500e production has been temporarily paused, as it happened twice already this year and once in 2023. It’s kind of sad to see the Fiat 500e selling so poorly, even if its 141 miles of range and $34,095 starting price don’t combine to make great value. Still, the 500e is a fun, quirky little EV that stands out in the current market of homogenous crossovers, so it would have been nice to see flourish.
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