Fiat North America's messaging as of late has been clear: it is here to stay in the US. Great news for buyers interested in not-huge EVs like the Fiat 500e, but let’s be real here, small cars are still somewhat of a niche here in the U.S. If Fiat is serious about its newfound push for relevance in North America, it will need more than a small city car to grab buyers attention. Fiat’s North American lead, Aamir Ahmed told us in Miami that Fiat’s future models are coming very soon, and on a date important to the brand’s history.
For this year’s Geneva auto show, Fiat’s global CEO Olivier Francois previewed a series of modular concepts on video. The concepts, which we’ve covered before, are a series of concepts built around a new unique modular platform that can accommodate EV, hybrid, and ICE powertrains. The products themselves range from pickup trucks aimed at Brazil, but also hatchbacks, crossovers, and a city car meant to directly replace the aging (but beloved) Fiat Panda. Fiat says these concepts represent its global aspirations, where it is “[transitioning] from local products to a global offer that can benefit all of our customers everywhere in the world.” But, “global” can often mean everything but the US.
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Fiat is a popular global brand
Fiat is the only Stellantis brand that is actually more popular globally than it is in its home country of Italy. It moved 1.3 million units last year, earning it first place in the Stellantis umbrella when it comes to sales volume.
Not true, this time, according to Ahmed. In the past, he’s insisted that future Fiat models to enter North America will come from the brand's efforts in other markets. Ahmed wouldn’t confirm if other 500e variants or even the Fiat 600e would make their way to the US, but he did allude to an arguably more interesting tidbit, related to the concepts it showed off during this year’s Geneva auto show.
Fiat has said that the final production version of the Panda will debut on Fiat’s 125th anniversary, which is July 11th. Ahmed added a twist, insisting that when the model debuts, “we’ll have a better idea of what Fiat North America can pull from for its North American lineup,” said Ahmed. He also said that the concepts we’ve seen, are pretty close to what they’ll look like on the roads.
Of course, we’re still going to speculate. Could the revealed Panda make its way to the US? That might be a stretch, but a simpler, cheaper alternative to the 500e with four traditional doors could be a surprise hit for the brand. Or, perhaps Fiat will target the small pickup market, and import the production-sized pickup concept to do battle against the Ford Maverick or Toyota’s BEV small pickup concept. We don’t know for sure, so we’ll just have to see what happens next after July 11th.
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com
