Currently only offered with an all-electric drivetrain, the pint-sized Fiat 500 city car will soon be offered with a petrol mild-hybrid engine.
Now entering production – including both hatchback and convertible models – the Fiat 500 Hybrid pairs a three-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol engine with a small 12-volt battery that provides a minor fuel efficiency boost and assists the petrol engine on rare occasion. The launch of this now predominantly petrol-powered model comes in response to declining sales of the electric 500.
Paired with a six-speed manual gearbox, this is a similar setup to the petrol mild-hybrid version of the previous generation 500 city car range. This time, however, the car is built on newer 500 Electric foundations, with near identical looks to its battery-powered twin (apart from a reworked front grille to feed more air to the petrol engine). This mild-hybrid is also 5hp less powerful than the previous version – 65hp in total.
With 65hp to play with, you’d imagine that pace and acceleration aren’t exactly the 500 Hybrid’s strong suit. When it does arrive in Britain in the coming months, it will be one of the slowest new cars on UK roads, with a 16-second (17 seconds in drop-top form) 0-62mph sprint time.
The 500 Hybrid’s interior is very similar to the 500 Electric, with a ten-inch infotainment touchscreen sitting front and centre on the dashboard. The dashboard also features a larger and squarer storage cubby and the gear shifter is elevated alongside the steering wheel – like the old petrol 500.
Now in production in Poland, Fiat is aiming to produce 100,000 500 Hybrid models a year, with right-hand drive models to start on the production line in April next year. That makes it likely that we won’t see this new mild-hybrid in the UK until Summer 2026. Fiat is yet to announce UK pricing just yet, but those details, and the full trim specifications, are sure to arrive in the coming months.
