MILAN: Fiat Chrysler defied fears over Italy’s coronavirus outbreak to showcase an electric version of its 500 city car, as it strives to catch up with rivals in low-emissions driving while heading into a merger with Peugeot maker PSA.
Initially planned for the now-cancelled Geneva Motor Show, the presentation was held at an event in Milan - a rarity as large gatherings have been discouraged by authorities in most of northern Italy, which has seen Europe’s worst virus outbreak.
“We’re here to show that FCA stands close to Milan and to Italy,” Olivier Francois, head of the Fiat brand and Fiat Chrysler Automobile’s (FCA) Chief Marketing Officer, told a restricted audience of journalists, before a press conference at Milan’s design museum.
“This car does not look at 2020, but to the next decade,” he added.
The new electric 500 (BEV), which is part of a plan announced in 2018 to invest 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in Italy up to 2021, is the group’s first major step into electric-powered driving.
FCA said the selling price for the cabrio launch version would be 37,900 euros in Italy, excluding government environmental incentives, though it added cheaper versions would follow. With a range of 320 kilometres, the new 500 BEV will be a totally different car, six centimetres longer, six centimetres wider and two centimetres taller that the petrol-engine version. It will be produced at FCA’s Mirafiori plant in Turin.
Sales are expected to start in July, initially in Europe, with FCA hoping to sell 80,000 a year at full capacity. — Reuters
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