Centoventi: Fiat's attempt at a no-frills electric

By dpa | 11 March 2019


GENEVA: Fiat believes it can beat the market trends and make e-mobility affordable with one central concept: simplicity. Too many e-cars are too expensive for regular car buyers, so Fiat is hoping to bring e-mobility to the masses with its new no-frills Centoventi.

To reduce costs, the Italian brand is relying on a simplistic design with a reduced model range. That means, for example, instead of offering dozens of variants, the concept hatchback will only be available in one shape and colour (Fiat hopes you like grey).

The approximately 3.7-metre-long concept is on display at the Geneva Motor Show (March 7-17).

In order to customise the car, customers can still choose from over 100 accessories and attachments, with which you can even redesign the cockpit. This chop and change approach also applies to the drive.



From the factory, the Centoventi standard has a battery with a more limited range of 100 km, but you can buy or even rent out additional battery modules to extend the range up to 500 kilometres.

One of these batteries can be removed and recharged in your living room or garage like an e-bike battery. Fiat says it hopes Centoventi will one day be used in rental and car-sharing fleets.

However, whether this concept ever makes it into production, is perhaps the first question the car maker should answer before car buyers get their hopes up.

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