Fiat Australia has released details of its first fully-electric car.
Appropriately named ‘La Prima’, the 500e is a three-door hatchback with a perfect
Italian heritage having been designed, engineered and manufactured at Fiat’s Turin
headquarters.
There’s even a lovely touch with an image of Turin’s skyline embossed on the wireless
phone charging pad.
Due for release here in mid-2023 and priced from $52,500 plus on-road costs, the 500e
is an evolution of the original 1957 Fiat 500 with design cues that hark back to that
much-loved ‘Nuova 500’.
Having owned a Fiat 500 Cabrio for many years, we appreciate the design.
Since its European launch in 2020 the Fiat 500e has already taken out 39 awards,
including Best Small Electric Car for the city by What Car? Best Small Car and Car of
the Year at the Electrifying Awards, and Best Car at the Marie Claire Sustainability
Awards.
It has also been rated as one of the most environmentally friendly cars on the market,
scoring a maximum five-star rating from the Green New Car Assessment Program
(NCAP) as well as becoming the first vehicle in history to achieve a maximum score of
10/10 in the Energy Efficiency Index.
1957 Fiat 500
The Fiat 500e has a front-mounted electric motor with 87kW of power and peak torque
output of 220Nm.
A DC, fast charging rate of 85kW, charging from 0-80 per cent charge can be achieved
in 35 minutes.
Using European figures as a guide, the Australian Fiat 500e is expected to have a
range of 311km.
Safety features include adaptive cruise control, rear-view parking camera, blind spot
monitor, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane
control, attention assist, intelligent speed assistant with traffic sign recognition, tyre
pressure monitoring system, automatic headlights, seat belt reminder, high-beam assist
and rain-sensing wipers.
Six exterior colours are offered but just a single interior trim, featuring Ice Beige eco-
leather with a Fiat monogram, soft touch bi-colour two-spoke steering wheel and a
premium dashboard finish.
Continuing the connection back to the original 1957 model, there’s the classic Fiat
dashboard insert and a rounded instrument cluster.
It has glossy black 17-inch alloy wheels.
In line with its eco-friendly theme, 500e is identified by a new logo on the liftgate with a
distinctive light blue accent.
A panoramic fixed glass roof is standard and comes with a retractable curtain.
There is a touchscreen infotainment system, with a 10.25-inch tablet style screen
combined with a 7.0-inch TFT full digital cluster.
