The petrol Fiat 500 is saying goodbye to the UK market after 17 years. The decision was made to make way for the new hybrid version based on the 500e that will arrive in 2025, with orders for the current version of the Cinquino having been closed. Dealers will proceed to fulfill orders and arrive until the end of 2024. At the same time, the Abarth 595 and 695 are also saying goodbye to the UK market.
Fiat’s decision
The Turin brand announced at the beginning of the summer its intention to bring a new version of the Fiat 500 hybrid to Mirafiori, adapting the platform of the current electric variant. The latter will therefore remain the only 500 on sale in the United Kingdom, at least until 2025, with the new 600 instead representing the only petrol option for customers in the UK market offered by the Turin car manufacturer. The decision to also build the new hybrid version of the iconic Italian model in Mirafiori was dictated by the desire to give new impetus to production in Italy, with the Stellantis brand also pressured by the Italian Government.
From electric to hybrid
Fiat CEO Olivier Francois then justified the partial backtracking on electric: “Of course, like everyone else, we thought that the world would go electric faster and that the cost of electrification would come down faster. But we could not imagine that Covid would happen, that there would be a shortage of raw materials and that European society, not all of it, not the younger part, would turn its back on sustainable solutions. But this is the reality. We have to face these realities.”
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