Fiat 500e Crashes into Honda Stand at LA Auto Show, Several Injured

The Italian brand didn't have any debut to wow the journalists, but it organized test drives of several models throughout the week. These have now been suspended in the wake of an accident involving a 500e electric subcompact.

The Los Angeles Fire Department was called to the scene and took this photos of the damaged 500e. The front bumper is ripped, and the windshield broke. Firefighters also popped the hood of the car as a precaution, but no fire ever broke out.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a 24-year old drive crashed the Fiat into a concrete planter. This then sent shrapnel into a nearby crowd at the Honda stand, injuring several people.

Medics evaluated eight people and sent six of them, including the driver, to the hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Was it worth it? Probably not, particularly since Fiat might have explaining to do regarding how a reportedly unlicensed driver got behind the wheel. Plus, let's not forget that the 500e is a money-losing project and is only for sale in Oregon and California.

Available for lease at $199 a month plus another $999 at the signing, this quirky little EV isn't worth the money it's printed on, as it were. Why? Because at $32,650, it competes against cars with much larger range.

Compare its 87 miles (140 kilometers) of range with the 238 (383 kilometers) on the Chevy Bolt, and you get where we are coming from.

The only high point of the car is looking cute. However, a redesigned front bumper designed to make it 13% more efficient means that the 500e looks like the ugly cousin of the European car.

The zero-emission 500’s powertrain, dubbed e-Drive, comprises a permanent magnet, three-phase electric motor with an output of just 111 hp and 147 lb-ft of torque. That makes you wonder how he ever managed to crash it into a planter, as there are no gears to change and no complex electronics.