Fiat Is Rude As Hell for Bringing the Europe-Only 500 to the NY Auto Show

The New York Auto Present was bleak this 12 months, with numerous main automakers not in attendance and quite much just about every new debut just a facelift of an existing model. But in the corner of the Stellantis stand there had been two shining rays of mild: A pair of new Fiat 500s. The only capture is, the 500 is only marketed in Europe and is not going to arrive to the US. What the hell, Fiat?

The new 500 was unveiled in March 2020 proper as the pandemic was wreaking havoc on the vehicle business (and the entire world), so this was my to start with time definitely acquiring to see and practical experience one particular in person. And guy is it excellent. A floor-up redesign with a completely electric powertrain, the new 500 manages to glimpse way much more present day and upscale although however remaining as chic and retro as it should. Its interior is so a lot nicer than the preceding 500, with an improved infotainment system, higher-finish components and some clever specifics.

Each hardtop and cabrio types ended up on show at the display, with the hatch painted in a beautiful rose gold and the convertible one particular of the Project Red specific editions. But it was the hardtop that really grabbed my notice, for the reason that the new 3-additionally-a single model adds a very small suicide door to the passenger aspect of the vehicle. Inspite of its modest size, the addition of that excess doorway and the absence of a B-pillar helps make it considerably less difficult to get into the 500’s back again seat.

Stellantis doesn’t truly have an explanation for why these 500s were being at the automobile present. It appears to be like the cars and trucks had been presently brought above to the US for CES earlier this calendar year, where by Stellantis confirmed off its world-wide electrification attempts, and the organization just determined to convey them to New York to have anything on the stand. There are information sheets in the windshields that converse all about the car or truck, and they only have a person sentence in a really compact font about how the 500 isn’t really readily available in the US.

Generating the presence of the 500s even much more frustrating is the point out of the Fiat brand name in basic. With the discontinuation of the 500, 500L and 124 Spider, the only Fiat sold in the US is the 500X crossover, which is now eight decades old and not good at all. (It has a neat new Yachting trim with a rollback roof, at the very least.) With the demise of the BMW i3 and Fiat’s key competitor Mini going completely electric, I imagine you can find undoubtedly a market for the new 500 in the US, even if it would require to dress in a extra quality price tag tag. Looking at the autos at the auto demonstrate just produced me even sadder and madder that it won’t happen.