Popular electric car to bring back petrol version

The Fiat 500e electric car – priced from $52,500 in Australia – will be reworked to suit petrol power amid slowing sales and cooling demand for battery-powered vehicles.

A petrol version of the Fiat 500 was previously sold alongside the new electric vehicle (EV), but it has just been axed in Europe after 17 years in production as it does not meet new safety rules.

Following a report from industry journal Automotive News Europe, it has been confirmed that Fiat will develop a petrol-powered version of the 500e.

MORE: Fiat 500e electric car may be about to get cheaper in Australia

The 500e was developed as an electric car only, so the decision to fit a petrol engine long after the electric version was launched would be highly unusual in the car industry.

It is expected the engine of choice will be a 52kW 1.0-litre three-cylinder mild-hybrid, as fitted to the previous petrol 500.

However, Automotive News Europe sources have claimed production would start no earlier than late 2025 or early 2026, as re-engineering the vehicle to fit the engine is still in progress.

The publication has previously reported that suppliers have been asked for quotes to grow Fiat 500 production in Italy to 200,000 vehicles annually – split between 125,000 petrol and 75,000 electric 500e cars.

It is up on the planned production of 175,000 vehicles reported by Automotive News Europe when it first wrote about the U-turn on the electric-only 500e, after the story was broken by Italy's Il Corriere della Sera.

Last year Fiat built 77,260 500e electric hatchbacks – compared to a target of 90,000 – and is said to have sold 62,000 in Europe, making it the region's sixth-best-selling electric car.

However, this is significantly less than the 104,000 petrol models sold, according to Dataforce figures. In the first three months of 2024, electric 500e sales are said to be down from 17,363 to 12,288.

In comparison, it has been reported that 32,504 petrol 500s sold in the UK and Europe in the first four months of this year – compared to 40,750 over the same period last year.

In Australia, 148 Fiat and Abarth 500 hatchbacks were reported as sold in the first three months of 2024 – 84 electric, and 64 petrol-powered.

The petrol-powered Fiat 500 was introduced in 2007, but was recently axed in Europe as it has not been engineered to meet new safety and cybersecurity rules in force from 6 July for all new vehicle registrations in the European Union.

Production at the Polish factory that built the 500 for Europe – as well as Australia – has ended, according to Automotive News Europe.

The publication reports the 500's production lines will be shipped to a factory in Algeria where it will continue to be built for Africa and the Middle East.

While it could feasibly remain in Australian showrooms from the Algerian factory, the petrol 500 lacks autonomous emergency braking technology – which will become mandatory for all new cars sold locally from March 2025.

Fiat says the petrol-powered 500e is a step towards the Italian Government's goal of keeping the country's annual car production above 1 million vehicles.

Stellantis is the last high-volume car maker left in Italy, and produces cars there across its Fiat, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Maserati, Peugeot, Opel, Citroen, Vauxhall and Dodge brands.

Helping to pave the way for the 500e's addition of petrol power may be the fact it reportedly shares some DNA with the petrol Alfa Romeo Mito city hatch axed six years ago – and is built on the Mito's old production line.