Want an itty-bitty, all-electric beach cruiser with 8 horsepower and 46 miles of range? Fiat thinks that some U.S. buyers do.
Fiat’s parent company, Stellantis, this week opened U.S. orders for Fiat’s micro-EV with a price tag of $13,995. The Topolino — Italian for “little mouse” — is indeed little and mousy: It is less than 100 inches long, touting 46 miles of range, a top speed of 19 mph and a 5.5 kWh battery. With those specs, the little EV is technically not street legal — yet.
An automotive expert, Stephanie Brinley with S&P Global Mobility, previously told the Free Press that the Topolino may appeal to people who live in gated communities where golf carts abound, or to those using it as a runabout at hotels, resorts or college campuses.
With its current specifications, the Topolino will be relegated to use on private drives and resorts. However, Stellantis plans to offer an upgrade kit to boost the top speed to 25 mph, allowing the cute little car to qualify federally as a “low-speed vehicle,” which can legally travel on roads with speed limits of 35 or less.
That street-legal capability is expected to be available later this summer, Stellantis said in a news release.
In December, when the automaker announced it was bringing the vehicle to the U.S. market, Fiat CEO Olivier Francois said in a news release that his team noticed it was turning a lot of heads at auto shows internationally and in the United States. Enough people said they wanted it in the States that Fiat decided to bring it over.
The Topolino is not, according to Stellantis, being brought to the United States to satisfy President Donald Trump’s December musings about bringing “really cute” cars to the country.
In December, Trump pontificated about the future of tiny “kei” cars in the United States after a visit to Asia.
“If you go to Japan, where I just left, if you go to South Korea, Malaysia and other countries, they have a very small car, sort of like the Beetle used to be with Volkswagen,” Trump said at a news conference while announcing plans to roll back emissions requirements for automakers. “They’re very small; they’re really cute.”
Diane Morgan, spokesperson for Fiat, told the Detroit Free Press at the time that the rollout of the Topolino in the United States had been planned for some time and is unrelated to Trump’s hope to bring tiny cars to the United States.
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis and the UAW for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Fiat is bringing a $13,995 micro-EV to United States
Reporting by Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
