If you thought that Dodge and, to a more serious extent, Chrysler were the most sad looking brands in Stellantis’ arsenal, you haven’t been paying attention to Fiat. And why would you? The brand sells so few cars in the U.S. it makes you wonder if it’s even worth it for Stellantis to continue to bother with it.
The brand sold a grand total of 605 cars in the U.S. in 2023. That’s 605 cars for the entire year. A couple of metrics make this number even sadder than it already is. That’s 605 cars sold from 357 dealers, and 51 of those 605 cars were models that aren’t even in production anymore:
- Fiat 500: 16
- Fiat 500L: 7
- Fiat 124 Spider: 28
To twist the knife of low sales even further, those 605 sales represent a slump of 34 percent from 2022 when 915 Fiats were sold. So what’s going on with the brand? Fiat brought the brand back to the U.S. in 2011 with the 500; the 500e EV was introduced in 2013 but only in California. Fiat seemed to take a page out of the Mini playbook by offering variants of the same car starting in 2013 with the stretched 500L and the 500X crossover in 2015. Then the 124 Spider made its return in 2016 as a Miata in an Italian suit (the original model was sold in the US from 1968 through the early 1980s.)
As time went on plans for the brand changed. The 500 was discontinued for the 2019 model year, while the 500L and 124 Spider were axed the following year. A new 500 was introduced in 2020, but only for Europe and some wondered whether or not it was coming here. Nothing was announced until late 2022 when the brand said that the 500e would be returning to the U.S. for the 2024 model year.
Only then did Fiat CEO Olivier François make the brand’s plans more clear. His plan is to axe the 500X after its current run and have the 500e be the sole offering in the U.S. “Fiat is the 500, no other car. I have a very clear plan to not do anything else than the 500,” François told Car And Driver. Offering a single model in the U.S. seems like sales suicide, he also seemed to try to justify the brands existence by saying Fiat would do more than just focus on selling the 500e in the America.
François also explained that the future of the brand on U.S. shores is to serve as a learning opportunity for parent company Stellantis as it eyes a transition to electric vehicles. Experimentation with digital sales, monthly subscription services, limited-release specialty models, and even a car-sharing service are all possibilities for Fiat when the 500e goes on sale in 2024.
I reached out to Fiat to see if this plan is still the case and will update when they get back to me. Whatever Stellantis has planned for Fiat going forward it needs to figure it out. One has to wonder just how long the company can justify the brand existing in the U.S. when it’s selling less than ultra luxury automakers like Rolls-Royce and Ferrari.
Update: Fiat got back to us regarding some of the brand’s future plans for the U.S., confirming that the 500X will be phased out leaving Fiat with a single model, the 500e.
