Things aren't looking great for Stellantis. Sales for the company's Dodge and Jeep brands in America are cratering, and its overseas brands aren't doing much better. Adding to the bad news, Stellantis announced today it will extend its suspension of production for the all-electric Fiat 500 until November 1 over low demand.
The company originally stopped production of the 500 on September 12, planning to idle the car's Mirafiori, Italy plant for four weeks. Now, that stoppage has been extended by another three weeks.
The decision, Reuters reports, comes alongside a statement given to trade unions claiming the electric car market in Europe is "in deep trouble."
(Fiat never seems to learn they keep creating these cars with such limited range.)
This is what I have noticed with almost all of the micro commuter cars. They cost more than a Civic; often significantly more. If they were half the price of a Civic I bet people would be all over them.
It's almost like, and hear me out, making EVs that are both expensive AND have very little range is a dumb idea. Make it cheap, small, and low range? Awesome, perfect little city car. Make it expensive but bigger and high range? Sure, at least it adds utility to justify the price.
the electric car market in Europe is “in deep trouble.”
Stellantis doesn't really have any attractive offerings IMO, among all their popular European brands Peugeot, Citroen, FIAT and Opel, they don't have a single model in the top 20 here!!
All these brands used to be very popular in Denmark, but EV has passed 50%, and everything Stelantis EV simply sucks, they have too little range and are too expensive. AFAIK every Stelantis of the 4 above brands are based on the same platform, and the same battery, and it's simply not good enough.
But it's not just Stelantis, even Toyota is out of top 10, their best seller is a petrol/benzin car at #12. The worlds biggest automaker only has 2 models in top 20, And none among EV top 10.
What's really out is hybrids, the top selling hybrid only sell half of the lowest on the top 20!
I would like to continue getting small cars after my Yaris and Leaf die. Our 2015 Leaf is still kicking but range has always been an issue. That said, for getting around the city core, nothing beats it aside from public transportation.
It is a shame that such cars are either too expensive or outclassed by range. This new fiat would more than double my range as it is.
I see a lot of Peugeots and Citroëns on the road here, including the newer electric models. That electric Fiat 500 is stupid tho. I don't know how anybody could be surprised at that thing not selling. I'd love an electric Fiat 500 if they made a good one, guess I'll have to keep waiting.