The automobile industry is changing dramatically for the first time in a century. Volkswagen has already announced that it is stopping all motorsports activities to focus on electrification efforts before this Honda also announced in September that it was going to be focusing on electrification and sustainability which perpetuated its exit from F1. Now, Fiat has joined the bandwagon and its head for EMEA has said that 60 percent of its vehicles will be electrified by the end of 2021. This includes the Fiat, Lancia and Abarth brands.
Fiat’s approach is a different one, however. Its electrification efforts amount to multiple new hybrid models, unlike the traditional plug-in electric models. It already makes a hybrid version of 500, the Panda and the Lancia Y. It also has a couple of cars incoming — 500X and Tipo, apart from this, there is also a new Fiat 500 electric and Fiat E-Ducato coming in.
Fiat feels that adding more hybrids and plug-in cars are a necessity for it in Europe. It has also been forced to make this move as it has been lagging behind in its electrification efforts and also been forced by the European Union’s Emission requirements to buy emission credits.
For this, it has partnered with the big daddy of all-electric cars – Tesla – the world’s highest-valued automotive company for complying with the CO2 emission for the EU. It is also highly dependent on Tesla’s ability to scale up its operations and production in the EU.