A Fiat 500e customized by Kartell was sold with nine times its usual price. More than a quarter of a million dollars for a Fiat? Well, it is a special Fiat that sold for the money that you would normally buy a Ferrari F8 Tributo, for instance.
The model is making a comeback to the American market after a three-year hiatus. The Italian model was introduced at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2022, but deliveries are set to start in the spring of 2024. The 500e starts at $32,500 before incentives. However, the EPA-rated range of only 149 miles (240 kilometers) might discourage customers.
The 500 has always been a fashion icon, so it is fashionably late when it comes to sales. That is so… Hollywood. The star of the Fiat lineup, the 500e was also in the spotlight at the Art Basel Miami. There were actually three of them, bearing the signatures of Bvlgari, Armani, and Kartell.
The latter was the one which got most of the attention. The model is dressed in a 'monoblock color,' the Kartell blue, which is derived from the company’s Yves Klein blue. The wheels and mirror caps found inspiration in Kartell’s Kabuki lamp.
The front grille, wheel, and mirror caps are made of polycarbonate recycled from what Kartell calls "end-of-life parabolic projectors." Tactile textile plastics, which are 100% recycled polypropylene and polyester, show up in the customized cabin. Transparent polycarbonate covers the dashboard.
Photo: Kartell
All three jewels from Bvlgari, Armani, and Kartell sold for an incredible $600,000. But the Kartell variant was the one that enticed the most. It sold for a staggering $275,000. That is almost nine times the usual price of the model.
The 500e Bvlgari was auctioned off for $175,000, while the Armani variant will find its way to the driveway of someone who paid $150,000 to take it home. All sold for double the estimate.
None of the vehicles can be driven in the United States because they do not comply with the motor vehicle safety standards in the country. That means that the buyers will have to go through quite a complicated procedure. They will have to export the vehicles to their point of origin, Italy, before the sale of the vehicle can be transacted and the title can be transferred.
Following the securing of the title in the origin country, the buyers will receive the necessary documentation that will allow them to export the vehicles out of Italy and into the country they choose.
The Fiat 500e is powered by a permanent magnet synchronous motor, which delivers 116 horsepower (118 PS) and 162 lb-ft (220 Nm) of torque. Top speed is rated at 93 mph (150 kph), while the minuscule 500e takes 9 seconds to hit 62 mph (100 kph) from a standstill.
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