Photo: Guido ten Brink / SB-Medien
The retro-chic mix offered by the Fiat 500 has been a success, with well over a million units sold. However, the current architecture is in dire need of change, as it dates back to 2006.
Fiat's little money maker recently scored a 3-star Euro NCAP crash safety rating. Not only that, but by the end of the decade, new emissions regulations coming into effect in Europe will force automakers to offer completely new types of powertrains with low CO2 emissions.
A recent report from Auto Express magazine claims the next-gen Fiat 500 could arrive in 2019 with a 48-volt mild hybrid or hybrid system. This ties in nicely with the fact that Volkswagen also discussed such a setup for its 2019 Golf BlueMotion.
"We will have to play with a variety of solutions. There are very few things that are certain in this market - apart from one, and that is that small displacement diesels are dead. I think everything else if fair play, so we'll experiment," FCA chief Sergio Marchionne told the British publication.
So like Volkswagen, Fiat wants to lower CO2 emissions and offer comparable fuel consumption to the 1.3-liter MultiJet engine. But the company hasn't even begun prototype development yet, so we can't say for sure what engine will be used, though the 0.9-liter TwinAir looks like the most likely candidate.
If approved, the 48V system could find its way into other cars as well, though the 500 doesn't have any direct sister cars like the VW Polo does.
Of course, the 500 will still have that retro design, but the car should grow a little bigger too, just like the F56 MINI. And we can't forget that the Cinquecento is supposed to be transformed into a whole family of posh cars.
"We still make a very large number of small cars like the Panda and Fiat 500. Putting full hybrids into a car in that segment is going to kill you. We need to find other solutions, and that's why I think we need to embrace 48-volt systems in a more realistic way," Marchionne added.
A recent report from Auto Express magazine claims the next-gen Fiat 500 could arrive in 2019 with a 48-volt mild hybrid or hybrid system. This ties in nicely with the fact that Volkswagen also discussed such a setup for its 2019 Golf BlueMotion.
"We will have to play with a variety of solutions. There are very few things that are certain in this market - apart from one, and that is that small displacement diesels are dead. I think everything else if fair play, so we'll experiment," FCA chief Sergio Marchionne told the British publication.
So like Volkswagen, Fiat wants to lower CO2 emissions and offer comparable fuel consumption to the 1.3-liter MultiJet engine. But the company hasn't even begun prototype development yet, so we can't say for sure what engine will be used, though the 0.9-liter TwinAir looks like the most likely candidate.
If approved, the 48V system could find its way into other cars as well, though the 500 doesn't have any direct sister cars like the VW Polo does.
Of course, the 500 will still have that retro design, but the car should grow a little bigger too, just like the F56 MINI. And we can't forget that the Cinquecento is supposed to be transformed into a whole family of posh cars.
"We still make a very large number of small cars like the Panda and Fiat 500. Putting full hybrids into a car in that segment is going to kill you. We need to find other solutions, and that's why I think we need to embrace 48-volt systems in a more realistic way," Marchionne added.
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