Fiat 500 Hybrid: the small city car debuts Mild Hybrid technology

The Fiat 500 Hybrid debuts Mild Hybrid technology to reduce its consumption and, above all, its emissions. It will arrive during the first quarter of 2020

A few months ago we learned that the FCA group is preparing for the start of production of the new Fiat 500 electric, which aims to reach dealerships during the second quarter of 2020 to compete with models such as the Mini Cooper SE or the Honda E.

To make this wait more bearable, Fiat has decided to launch a version of its successful city car equipped with Mild Hybrid technology to get closer to meeting the new European emissions regulations.

The Fiat 500 Hybrid features 48V light hybridisation

Its name will be Fiat 500 Hybrid and it will use the same powertrain as the Lancia Ypsilon Hybrid on the Italian market. It is the 1.0 Firefly three-cylinder petrol engine producing 70 CV paired with a five-speed manual gearbox.

The electrified part consists of a small 12 V electric generator. Thanks to this, the Fiat 500 Hybrid has a homologated consumption of 4.7 litres per 100 km in the city and a combined consumption of 3.4 litres. In addition, its CO2 emissions will stand at 90 grams per kilometre.

One of the great advantages of a Mild Hybrid, besides the reduction in consumption and emissions, is that it will qualify for the DGT ECO label with all the benefits that this entails. We will have to wait and see whether this powertrain will replace the LPG option currently available in the range or whether both will coexist.

The Fiat 500 Hybrid will reach the market during the first quarter of 2020. This launch is one of the steps in the electrification strategy within the FCA group, since they also intend to bring 48 V Mild Hybrid versions of the Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade, Jeep Compass and Jeep Wrangler to the European market. In addition, the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Alfa Romeo Stelvio will receive it in 2021.

FCA is lagging behind in the development of electric vehicles

This whole rollout of light-hybrid models is nothing more than a way of masking the delay of the FCA group compared with the rest of the brands in developing electric vehicles. In fact, this was one of the reasons behind the recent merger of the Italian group with the French PSA group.

This would not be so serious if it were not for the fact that next year the new European emissions regulation comes into force, requiring brands’ average CO2 emissions to be 95 g/km. Failing to achieve this will bring a penalty of 95 euros for every gram per kilometre exceeded, which could seriously punish manufacturers that do not act in this regard.

For this reason, the Fiat 500 Hybrid will reach the market in the coming months as an appealing urban alternative and, moreover, it will be the brand’s move to get out of trouble ahead of the imminent introduction of the new emissions regulation.