Stellantis to entice consumers with more affordable EVs, like new Fiat priced under €25K
In order to compete with other automakers and garner a larger slice of the EV market, Stellantis shared that it is developing a second, lower-priced EV inspired by the Panda from its sub-brand Fiat. The new Fiat EV is expected to arrive priced below €25,000.
Today’s news is one of several strategies multinational automotive corporation Stellantis is enacting to not only stay relevant in an industry accelerating toward electrification, but excel in it. Criticized by some as laggards to EVs, Stellantis has been making moves lately to truly compete globally.
In the last few months alone, Stellantis has formed a joint venture with Foxconn to produce EV semiconductors, revealed a new EV platform for global EV brands like Jeep, and green-lit plans for a second EV battery manufacturing facility in the US alongside Samsung SDI.
The automaker was also one of seven in the recently announced alliance to deliver a universal EV charging network to North America. As Stellantis advances its offensive in the US on the wings of marques like Ram and Fiat, it is also targeting a potentially fruitful market in Europe in which consumers are seeking smaller, more affordable EV options.
It may take a year or two, but Stellantis says it will introduce a new, affordably priced Fiat EV to Europe to compete with automakers already promising similar options.
New Fiat EV will compete with Renault, BYD in EU to begin
According to Bloomberg, Stellantis intends to introduce a second economically priced EV to its lineup under the Fiat brand one year from now. According to Fiat CEO Olivier Francois, the new EV will be priced under €25,000 ($27,500) and will take design cues from the Panda seen in the featured image above.
Francois also stated that the incoming Fiat EV will challenge Renault’s Dacia Spring (seen above). Another target could be the growing number of BYD EVs in Europe like the Atto 3. If and when it does arrive, the new Fiat EV will join the e-C3 from fellow Stellantis sub-brand Citroen as the second EV model priced below the €25K benchmark.
The e-C3 is also intended to compete against the electric Dacia Spring in the EU, but should begin sales at least six months before the new Fiat is even unveiled. Given that both Fiat and Citroen exist under the Stellantis umbrella, it’s safe to say that the two affordably priced EVs will share some DNA. Fiat’s CEO said as much in a recent interview, stating, “It’s very likely that there will be synergies.”
No word yet on if the US market will see the new Panda-inspired EV – Fiat’s immediate focus across the pond is the return of the 500e, while Stellantis continues to introduce larger electric models under the Ram and Jeep marques.
Fiat may not be the most prominent brand in the US, but a compact $27,500 EV could certainly garner some looks from American consumers if the range is reasonable. We will have to see what it looks like next summer and how it fares in a competitive market in Europe that gravitates more toward smaller vehicles.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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