► Petrol-powered Fiat 500 is coming back
► Based on adapted the 500e EV platform
► Will use 1.2-litre MHEV, auto as standard
Fiat CEO Olivier Francois has confirmed that a hybrid version of the Fiat 500 will be back in production before the end of 2025. But rather than resurrect the outgoing model, which went off sale in 2024, the new 500 Hybrid will be based on the 500 Electric. Which is currently the only Fiat 500 you can buy new.
While this development isn’t exactly breaking news – we got word that it was likely to happen some time ago now – it is significant. Because the 500e was designed and engineering to be a purely electric car, and wasn’t ever supposed to be offered with a combustion engine. Not even a hybrid one.
So what’s going on?
While Fiat effectively found itself with little choice but to remove the old 500 Hybrid (pictured below) from sale last year – it was first introduced in 2007, and it had become out of step with the very latest safety regulations – it hadn’t anticipated ever needing another petrol model to replace it.
However, as with many other car manufacturers, the firm has discovered that not all of its customers are ready for an EV. Some of this is lifestyle and infrastructure related – Italy is particularly behind the curve when it comes to supporting fully electric vehicles – but much of it is down to cost.
As Francois explained to us in a round table interview, the 500 Electric is just too expensive for many existing 500 customers to seriously consider. The new 500 Hybrid will be offered at a more affordable price.
Does this mean the 500 Electric is a failure?
It has been widely reported that Fiat has had to cut back on 500 Electric production – galling for a car built at the firm’s famous Mirafiori factory in its home city of Turin – and in December 2024 it was halted completed, only restarting in January.
Francois says that this is almost entirely a pricing issue related to most European governments ending the EV incentives and grants that were commonplace until a couple of years ago. The cancelation of the EV subsidies in Germany at the end of 2023 had a particularly big impact on the 500 Electric’s customer base, with sales drying up practically overnight.
Until this point, the car had been considered ‘a huge success’ inside Fiat, with ‘incredible’ market share when EV sales were booming. Fiat is clearly proud of the fundamental design and the quality of the car, and Francois stated ‘it will be a very bright day for us’ when the 500 Hybrid model based on the same underpinnings is introduced.
This too will be built at Mirafiori.
What hybrid system will the new 500 use?
The new 500 Hybrid will be powered by the same trick mild-hybrid system already available in the Fiat 600 Hybrid and offered alongside the electric version of the Fiat Grande Panda.
This uses a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine with a variable-geometry turbo in combination with an electric motor built into the six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Unusually for a mild hybrid, it can move the vehicle on electric power alone – albeit only for up to 0.6 of a mile and at very low speeds.
Two power outputs are available at present: 100hp and 136hp. We’d expect Fiat to offer both in the 500. Performance is likely to be nippy in such a small car, even if the 0-62mph times won’t be startling, and our experience in the 600 version suggests we should anticipate very smooth gearshifts – a far cry from the Dualogic robotised manual transmission offered in older 500 petrol models.
How much will the new 500 Hybrid cost?
The new car won’t go on sale until the end of 2025, so no-one’s putting a figure on anything just yet. But Fiat has been extremely bullish about competitive pricing in recent months, with the Grande Panda undercutting all rivals and still delivering a very appealing product.
As such, we’re told to expect the new 500 Hybrid to be priced as close to the cost of the old one as possible, which started at under £17,000 when it was still available last year. However, Francois warns it will be ‘slightly more expensive’ due to the additional cost of the necessary safety equipment – and that it will be built in Italy, rather than Poland.
The Fiat 500e is currently priced from £24,995.