Fiat’s European boss says that ‘it should be a no-brainer’ for city cars to be electric

Moving forward towards an electrified future ‘it should be a no-brainer’ for the city car segment to go electric.

That’s according to Fiat’s European boss, Gaetano Thorel, who expressed his opinions on the future of urban mobility and how customers drive choice in the industry.

The A-Segment city car class has been rapidly declining in recent years, due to the rise in EVs, however with the success of the 500e and B-segment Grande Panda Electric, it shows that the demand for small and affordable cars is still there.

Speaking at the international launch of the new Fiat Grande Panda Hybrid, Thorel told the PA News Agency: “I personally think the electric transition is something right in the mid to long-term, probably. At the end of the day, the customer drives the choice and demand, and if you think about other industries for a moment, when we moved from mobiles to smartphones or televisions to LCD flat screens, all these evolutions were all customer driven and not regularmentation driven.”

He added: “So I think electric remains a solution, and I believe that electric city cars are driven in places like London or Milan. It should be a no-brainer for two reasons because the range is not a problem anymore and recharging shouldn’t be an issue if you have a wallbox at home. The perception should tell you that electric cars should be from the city car segment.”

The Grande Panda Electric is on sale now priced from £21,035, while the 500e starts from £25,035.