It may be January but the ever diligent folk over at What Car are hard at work selecting various car of the year awards.
For Soft Top of the Year they plucked the ever lovable Fiat 500 convertible and in this case the all Electric Version.
How you can select convertible of the year in January with the UK mainly wet weather is another question.
However this is the Fiat Chrysler news.
The New Fiat 500 has taken another award win in the UK, being crowned Convertible of the Year and Best Small Car for the City by What Car? in its 2021 Car of the Year Awards. It is the first time an electric car has won the Convertible of the Year category.
Judges praised the car for its easy-to-drive engineering, refined driving style, range and price versus the competition and its all-new interior. Equally impressive was the convertible’s driving style which judges said was just as good as the hatchback.
The New Fiat 500 is the first fully-electric vehicle from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and provides a raft of best-in-class features such as its range of up to 199 miles, autonomous driving technologies and variety of battery options.
Steve Huntingford, editor, What Car? said, “The new Fiat 500 Cabrio is the first electric car to win our Convertible of the Year award, but don’t think it takes the trophy just because it taps into the zeitgeist. Just as appealing is the smartly finished interior and the fact that the 500 Cabrio is every bit as good to drive as the hatchback on which it’s based – a rare quality in a drop-top.
“If ever a car was born for urban driving, it’s the Fiat 500. It’s shorter than its key rivals, so fits into spaces they won’t, while a tight turning circle, ultra-light steering and great forward visibility make it especially easy to manoeuvre as it darts around tight city streets in a refined, smooth manner. As a bonus, it wallops rivals for range, so isn’t just limited to the urban sprawl.”
As a comment – wallops rivals for range is a little optimistic. At the base level 129 miles is less than the entry level LEAF offered 10 years ago and no more that the tiny Smart EV. At the top of the line again 199 miles is les that pretty much all of the other mainstream EVs on the market. Think VW, Ford, Nissan and even GM who all offer longer range at the same ballpark price.
What does the Fiat 500 E offer?
There are four versions: La Prima for £27,000, Icon, Passion and Action for £20,000.
Range of these is 199 miles at La Prima down to 199 at the Action car level. We guess different battery sizes.
Are they available now? Take a look at the Fiat website and you would be hard pressed to find the Electric 500 let alone order one. There is an electric header on the main Fiat home page menu. There you will learn that the new Fiat 500 electric will make its debut in 2020.
Charging
Fiat claim that the Type 2 charger will take up to 85KW. The more realistic is home charging at 7Kw. A charge at 7KW – that standard 32 Amp supply, will take 4 hours
Is this the Fiat Future?
Frankly this is hopeless and Fiat should be embarrassed at this. What a joke.
Is Fiat just playing at Electric cars?
It would seem so. On the Electric page there is a link and image to the New 500. See below. When you click you do indeed see the new 500 range.
The 500 page has no mention of Electric power. No mention of range, No mention of charging. There is no way the average consumer would know it was an EV. There is no way to order and no way to even know if the car actually exists.
We think What Car have been hoodwinked by FIAT PR department.
Take a look yourself and see what you can uncover about Fiat and electric cars. Visit Fiat uk website.