Fiat embraces its colorful Italian heritage, announcing this week that it will no longer offer gray cars.
Starting with its new all-electric 600e SUV, Fiat says it will end production of gray exterior trim and instead focus on colors inspired by nature – i.e. “Italian Sea, Sun, Earth and Sky”.
“Italy is indeed associated with bright colors such as the Italian Sea, the Italian Sun, the Italian Earth and the Italian Sky; the landscape that gives Fiat so much inspiration for its cars,” the company said in its media release.
“The strategy is implemented to add distinctive features to Fiat cars in the automotive market, as 2023 is a year of extraordinary change for the brand.”
The results are despite gray vehicles representing more than one in four new vehicles sold in the UK, according to official figures from the country’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Current colors across the range that fit the brand’s new ‘Color Brand’ philosophy include: Gelato white, Sicilia orange, Paprika orange, Passione red, Blu Dipinto di Blu, Italia blue, Venezia blue, Rugiada green, Foresta green, Rose gold and Cinema black.
“We broke the rules: we decided to stop production of gray Fiat cars. It’s challenging and disruptive and it aims to further reinforce Fiat’s leadership as a brand of joy, color and confidence. Italy is a country of color and, from today, so are Fiat cars,” said Fiat CEO Olivier Francois, who also features in the video above.
Although it was announced earlier this month, the 2024 Fiat 600e will be presented and detailed to the public on July 4th.
The Fiat 600e is the all-electric successor to the aging 500X crossover, and is believed to be based on the same Stellantis CMP/e-CMP platform that underpins the likes of the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot e-2008.
It is expected that power will come from a 115kW/260Nm a front-mounted electric motor paired with a 54kWh cobalt manganese nickel lithium-ion battery to provide a variety of driving approximately 400km per charge.
Petrol-powered petrols and hybrids are also supported by the CMP/e-CMP architecture and may be introduced in key markets – the Avenger, for example, offers a petrol engine only in a handful of European markets such as Spain.
Stay tuned Car Expert for our coverage of the Fiat 600e’s official debut on July 4th.
MORE: Fiat reveals its first electric SUV