The last few days have seen a flurry of announcements concerning the European automotive industry. Antonio Filosa, the new CEO of StellantisStellantis Europe's CEO, Jean-Philippe Imparato, spoke at the Munich Motor Show, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, unveiled a new legislative direction. Behind these statements, a common thread emerges: the European Union's E-Car project, designed to breathe new life into small, affordable cars, could well become a boon for Stellantis. And above all for Fiatthe most legitimate brand in this field.
Europe in automotive decline
Antonio Filosa drew a stark conclusion: Europe is the only major region in the world to see its automobile sales fall so rapidly. "We've gone from 19 to 15 million cars, with the loss of around 3 million vehicles", he recalls. The compact car segment, historically the most popular in Europe, has been particularly hard hit by this decline.
Ursula von der Leyen rings the revival
Aware of the need to adapt automotive supply to real demand from Europeans, Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a key initiative: "We need to invest in compact, affordable vehicles, both for the European market and to meet strong global demand. To this end, we will propose to work with industry on a new initiative entitled Affordable Small Cars. Less bureaucracy, fewer rules."
Clearly, Brussels is paving the way for more flexible regulations to boost production of small, cheap, electric cars. This is exactly what Fiat needs to prepare for the future.
Jean-Philippe Imparato puts figures on the table
Jean-Philippe Imparato went further, pointing to the near-disappearance of the A segment: "In 2019, there were 49 models under 15,000 euros. Today, only one remains. In his opinion, by returning to homologation conditions similar to 2018, and by limiting power and speed, it is possible to produce 3.50 to 3.70-meter cars sold for around 15,000 euros. Exactly the spirit of the European E-Car project.
Why the E-Car project is ideal for Fiat
The project describes two categories of small electric cars:
- M0: power limited to 54 hp, no freeway use, reduced safety.
- M1 ASEV: closer to today's cars, with comfort and authorization to use expressways, while remaining compact (3.80 m max., 1 tonne including battery).
It is precisely this second category that could accommodate the future Fiat 500 and Fiat Panda expected around 2030. These models should be based on a specific platform, not the STLA Small used by other Stellantis vehicles, proof of the strategic importance of the project for Turin.
Since the creation of Stellantis, the A segment has been the forgotten one. The electric Fiat 500 has attempted to fill this role, but with mixed success due to a price deemed too high and the gradual end of European subsidies. As for the Fiat Panda, it continues to attract massive interest in Italy, but its replacement is expected by 2030.
If the E-Car project comes to fruition, Fiat could resume its historic role as champion of small, popular cars. Better still, this momentum could inspire other Stellantis Group brands to return to the A segment, such as Citroën with the C1 or Peugeot with a 108.
The message is clear: the European Union, Stellantis and Fiat are finally converging on the same vision. On the one hand, Brussels wants compact, accessible, electric cars. On the other, Stellantis could take advantage of the E-Car project to boost sales of its future Fiat 500 and Fiat Panda.
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Whether customers will follow is a big mystery, because even if it's impossible to take the freeway, it's still a fairly restrictive obstacle.
If the prices are interesting!?
I think there must be millions of cars that never take the highways?
Sometimes for the rest of their lives...
What's more, there are always roads that run alongside freeways!
A car banned from the freeway is a small car.
The Fiat Panda is very good and can be used anywhere, it's very affordable and still a great success in Italy. All we need to do is replace it, which is more interesting than these possible E-Cars with their overly reduced performance. For small cars, there's already the Fiat Topolino or Citroën Ami.
The Topolino, as I understand it, is in the M0 category. This is a new category.
Except that they want to copy the Keï Cars concept, but they're not forbidden on certain roads and they're still very sophisticated cars, because it's just the size and the displacement limit that make them what they are.
If you're going to copy these cars, you might as well copy them thoroughly.
I probably misunderstood what these E-cars would be. In fact, they'll be a new category, a mini electric car. Somewhere between a small car and a true hybrid city car like the Panda or Twingo.
But with limited use if prohibited on freeways.
The Topolino is limited to 45 km/h.
It's difficult in the provinces, far from the cities.
An 80 km/h limit would trigger tens of thousands of additional sales!
Stop the diktat of Brussels technocrats, who know nothing about automotive development constraints, other than wanting to blindly tax European citizens and manufacturers! Stop the absurd anti-citizen directives (e.g.: we are taxed on the CO2 emitted by cars, but the EU would like to authorize trade with Mercosur (= millions of tons of CO2 over thousands of kilometers...) and authorization to use certain products suspected of being carcinogenic... Stop the authoritarian measures of the EU, where citizens are not listened to!
Well yes let's listen to the con...ies of your kind who only think of their own little selves. It's true we're heading for the wall for our future on the planet, so we might as well speed things up 🙄
People want EVs, but only if they can buy them!
"Electric car": end of joke.
Unsellable, and will never sell. It's not a problem of price, it's just that electric is not viable for 80% people (no parking, no charging stations, need to be able to leave at any time, or on weekends etc).
People who imagine this are beyond disconnected from reality.
If they leave the combustion engines without the bullshit standards, the cars will go back to €9,000 and people will gladly buy them again.
"Unsaleable, and will never sell"
But the fact is, EVs are selling more and more.
By 2030, EV prices will theoretically be the same as VT prices.
50 % of people live in a house with a garage.
90 % of journeys... An EV city car does it easily... For 4 times less per km.
Lowering thermal pollution standards is unthinkable, even for a second.
What's more, it enriches the oil monarchies, and even our enemies!
Imparato is a happy idiot, yes.
Already, 15,000 euros in 2019 is equivalent to 18,000 euros in 2025, based on changes in the minimum wage, and for 18,000 euros you can still find a lot of vehicles in automakers' catalogs. In fact, he's speaking for himself because his crappy group doesn't know how.
Certainly not. I'm sick and tired of being poisoned as a pedestrian or cyclist. When 9000 euros for a car in cardboard no I do not want. You can find very good second-hand cars, not in cardboard and not from Stellantis either 🤣.
Let's stop moaning about "it was better before": we have no oil or gas in Europe (or very little).
we have to make the switch to electric cars, but in a reasonable way.... is a word we don't know in France, since anyone who disagrees with us is necessarily an idiot.....
If we want to keep running on fossil fuels, we'll have to kowtow to Russia, Algeria, Kazakhstan etc... so think again!