Fiat is the latest automaker to announce plans to go the fully electric route.
Fiat CEO Oliver Francois made the announcement on Friday during a live-streamed discussion in Milan, Italy, about how to make cities greener, stating that Fiat's lineup will gradually become electric only between 2025 and 2030. The 2030 date is when some countries, such as the United Kingdom, plan to ban the sale of cars powered purely by internal-combustion engines.
Other established automakers committed to selling only electric vehicles by the end of this decade include the likes of Bentley, Jaguar, Lotus, Mini and Volvo, while most other automakers see the transition being completed within the next decade.
Fiat Concept Centoventi
Fiat's transition has already started with the arrival last year of a redesigned 500, a model offered exclusively with battery-electric power. It currently isn't available in the United States.
Additional variants of the electric 500 like replacements for the 500X and 500L are possible. Another possibility is a production version of Fiat's Centoventi electric crossover concept from 2019. The production version is tipped to arrive in 2022 alongside a baby Jeep (and possibly a baby Alfa Romeo). Sadly, the 124 Spider, which bows out after 2021, is unlikely to be reborn as an electric sports car, at least anytime soon.
During the discussion, Francois also said that Fiat will convert the famous roof-mounted test track of its former Lingotto factory in Turin, Italy, into a large hanging gardens hosting over 28,000 plants. The plant today is a shopping mall and the test track had been preserved as a cultural icon.
