In Europe, the line of action for automobile brands was clear: the obligation to sell exclusively electric cars in 2035. With that in mind, there were many firms that announced that their exclusive jump to zero emissions would be even earlier, however There are also many who have had to put on the brakes and lower their ambitions.
Thus, several have already announced that they will maintain their offer of combustion models beyond what was initially announced, something that is due to the slow takeoff of EVs in most European markets.
The last one that has had to admit this reality has been Fiat, according to AutoNews, which would be planning a gasoline option to offer in the 500e.
Read this way it seems like it doesn't make sense, but we are going to explain it to show that it does.
Currently the Italian brand sells the two versions of the Fiat 500 as separate models. On the one hand, the combustion engine, which uses a microhybrid propulsion system and enjoys the ECO label from the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT). On the other hand, zero emissions, which is offered with two power levels.
According to data collected by Data Force, in Europe last year 104,000 units of the thermal were sold, while only 62,000 euros were sold for the EV.
This is logical seeing the evolution of the industry in the Old Continent, but it represents a major problem for Fiat, since the gasoline 500 will not be approved for Europe from July, since the company has not wanted to invest in the model. to adapt it to the new security and cybersecurity standards.
This will mean a considerable loss of sales for the brand, since the electric car has not taken over as strongly at the moment.
Given this situation, the Italian firm seems to have made a decision that is quite surprising: using the base of the Fiat 500e, which technologically and in terms of safety does meet European requirements, a new combustion version will be developed.
It is a rather rare and peculiar movement, which until now has never been seen and which, although it seems a logical option, when push comes to shove it has its drawbacks.
The 500e was designed exclusively to mount electric motors, so at an engineering level many changes will have to be introduced so that it can equip a microhybrid propulsion system (we assume that the brand will maintain the MHEV nature of the system). Let's think, for example, about the escape line.
This will mean that the replacement will not be immediate, since the development first and the approval later take a long time.
As a consequence, it is possible that about 18 months could pass from when the current thermal one stops being sold until the new one goes on sale, a serious problem since during that entire period the firm will be left without its best-selling model in the world. Catalogue.