The new electric crossover 600e has already been driven: Fiat inflates its cult car

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Fiat is also a time machine. The Stellantis brand always likes to remember its glorious past, when all of Southern Europe drove its cars, and rear-engined small cars in the north of the continent represented the Italian way of life. It also works as a concept: the Cinquecento, the cult retro-styled small car that was revived in 2007, is still the best-selling model in the range today and has even entered the electric age in 2020.

Logically, the story of the new Fiat 600e begins on the roof of the former Fiat factory in Turin-Lingotto (I). The crossover steals the design concept of the electric 500e, but as a family electric vehicle with five seats and half a meter longer, it offers more space and a loading volume of 360 to 1230 liters. “An upgrade to the 500e,” says Fiat’s European boss Gaetano Thorel, drawing parallels with the 1950s and the 500 and 600 models of that time. Unfortunately, this was a gimmick because the Fiat 600 preceded the smaller 500 by two years. Blick prefers to say: The Stellantis electric platform has never been packed with this much jolt factor.

Design Ala Cinquecento

On the outside, Fiat had already adorned the original 600 from 1955, with headlights with half-open eyes, a wide front grille and plenty of chrome details as in the taillights. Underneath this is the Stellantis Group technology, which is also found in Jeep Avenger, Peugeot e-2008 and Opel Mokka Electric. Thus, with the further developed platform, which now produces 156 hp instead of 136 hp (115 kW instead of 100 kW), it now offers a net capacity of 51 kilowatt hours (kWh) and the 600e travels 406 kilometers (about 600 kilometers) on a single battery charge. city ​​traffic,” says Thorel.

Here we go; First we take a spin on one of the steep curves on the roof, then we go down the ramps. Instead of the annoying, unstable rocker switch of sister brands, there are buttons for drive direction and recovery. We can’t get downhill power yet, the battery is full and 404 kilometers are predicted. Despite being front-wheel drive, there’s no steering traction, but it’s a bit stiff and not as precise as in the Jeep Avenger.

Sporty and very economical

It doesn’t matter because it makes driving in the city less tense. Our 600e sprints quickly unless you send half the horses to sleep using the Eco drive mode, has a fairly sporty suspension, recovers strongly and arrives after around 120 kilometers with almost 260 kilometers of remaining range. Unfortunately, there are no upgrades when it comes to charging: the Wallbox only has 11 kW of charging power; Only 100 kW on DC fast charger. You can go from 20 percent to 80 percent in 27 minutes; competing models can go from 10 percent to 80 percent simultaneously. It is not possible to start the trailer and therefore the option of supporting the bike carrier with a hitch is no longer available from the factory.

In the cockpit, a 7-inch screen shows the speedometer and the most important information. There is a touchscreen with a diagonal of 10.25 inches (about 26 centimeters) for the infotainment system. Space is sufficient because the seats are mounted 22 to 30 millimeters higher than in the 500e, which creates legroom. Their caps are made from 200 recycled PET bottles; More than 30 percent of the steel is recycled, as is 10 percent of the plastic. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of the latter – no matter where you hit the interior, it sounds harsh. Even if designers try to hide it with surfaces.

Two versions – that’s it!

But the biggest innovation is in the sales model: Two versions should be enough; either Red, a nice red for no extra cost, or the La Primera version with all the extras like an electric boot lid and massaging seats up front. . “Customers choose the version and color and that’s it,” says Thorel. This puts buyers at ease, reduces production effort and reduces costs. But it also deprives the garage owner of the scope for discounts or free options. There are no Swiss prices yet, but Blick estimates the basic version will start at just under 37,000 francs at the end of October.

However, Fiat does not yet dare to offer only an electric version of the new 600. Thorel explains that in Italy’s important domestic market, electric cars currently make up only 5 percent of the market. A hybrid with a 100 hp gasoline engine and a 28 hp 48-volt electrical module will also be available next year for selected countries. It is quite possible that Switzerland will be one of them.

Source: Blick