Fiat has launched a lower-cost hybrid version of its new electric family car as UK bosses warned that slowing demand for EVs had forced their hand.
The new self-charging 600 Hybrid from the Italian brand costs up to £10,000 less than the equivalent all-electric 600e model – and eliminates the range and charging anxiety motorists face due to there being too few public chargers.
Fiat UK said the move was necessary because take-up of EVs by consumers is falling short of the levels demanded by politicians and ministers who ‘got off the bus too early’ by axing EV grants.
Fiat’s change of plan: The Italian marque had originally planned to only sell the 600e electric crossover (pictured) in Britain, but has made a last-minute decision to launch a hybrid version
A shortages of public charging points, the reduction then withdrawal of government EV subsidies to customers, and the cost of living crisis have contributed to a lack of consumer confidence which in turn has hit demand for electric cars from private buyers – despite politicians insisting that more electric cars must be sold.
In response, executives from the Italian car firm say that it is time for a reality check and a wake-up call for ministers to do more to boost demand for EVs.
Fiat had said originally that it would offer only the electric 600e in the UK, but said that in light of sluggish EV sales it had been forced to revise its plans and introduce also a 600 Hybrid.
It comes after car makers – via the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) trade body – urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to help stimulate EV sales among private buyers by slashing in half the 20 per cent VAT imposed on them in Wednesday’s last Budget before a general election.
While company car and fleet buyers enjoy lucrative tax incentives to switch to pure electric cars, private buyers have seen subsidies reduced and then withdrawn, and often cannot afford the latest EVs.
The slow roll-out of public chargers has exacerbated that lack of confidence, say bosses who want the government to reinstate grants or cut VAT on sales as an incentive to boos EV sales.
The government insists sales of petrol and diesel cars must end by 2035, having recently extended that deadline from 2030 following a successful campaign by the Daily Mail.
Fiat UK managing director Damien Dally said that his company remained ‘100 per cent committed to electrification for the masses,’ but in relation to ministers axing incentives, he added: ‘The government got off the bus too early. We were massively disappointed.
‘Retail customers buy cars with their own money and they are now not buying electric cars in sufficient numbers.’
Fiat said the new ‘electrified’ 600 Hybrid will cost from £23,965 on the road with red as the standard colour and a £600 addition for other colours including orange, green, blue, stone black and white.
The top of the range 600 Hybrid La Prima will start from £26,965 with orange as standard colour, and a £600 additional charge for green, blue and stone.
By contrast, the base pure-electric 600e Red starts from £32,995 while the higher-specced 600e La Prima costs from £36,995 with non-standard paints also a £600 extra, and an enhanced charging cable a £400 option.
That is a difference of £10,030 on the price of range-topping La Prima electric and hybrid models.
Fiat UK managing director Damien Dally said that his company remained ‘100 per cent committed to electrification for the masses,’ but in relation to ministers axing incentives, he added: ‘The government got off the bus too early. We were massively disappointed
Fiat said it would continue to offer its own £3,000 ‘e-grant’ contribution to customers buying its pure electric EV cars, including the 600e, 500e, 500e convertible and Abarth 500e, noting: ‘It equates to double that offered by the scheme closed by the government in 2022.’
The Italian car company adds: ‘Electric vehicle sales data suggests that exponential growth of the vehicle segment is starting to slow year on year.’
It said: ‘With the cost-of-living crisis in Britain over recent years there has been a huge financial upheaval.
‘The market still needs incentives and Fiat has urged the UK government to reinstate its own scheme.’
The hybrid versions of the Fiat 600 will be around £10,000 cheaper than the fully-electric 600e variants
It’s not just Fiat that’s hedging its bets on hybrid
Latest overall UK sales figures show that while sales of electric cars have been slowing, those of petrol-electric hybrids have been soaring.
Other car-makers have also warned market conditions mean they are putting the brakes on EV production in favour of hybrids.
Toyota has invested heavily in hybrids with chairman and former CEO Akio Toyoda believing EVs will only ever account for 30 per cent of the market.
‘Customers, not regulations or politics should make the decision on what path to rely on to reduce it,’ he said.
A Financial Times report noted: ‘After spending the past decade as the car industry’s loudest champions of hybrid vehicles, Toyota executives could be forgiven for feeling some measure of vindication.’
Electric cars will never dominate the automobile market, according to Akio Toyoda (pictured), chairman of the world’s second biggest car manufacturer, Toyota
Ford chief executive Jim Farley told investors recently: ‘Hybrids will play an increasingly important role in our industry’s transition and will be here for the long run.’
Mercedes-Benz revealed last month that it will delay its goal of becoming an electric vehicle-only brand by 2030 and instead continue to produce petrol and diesel -engined cars and hybrids well into the next decade.
The SMMT said the UK is now the only major market to insist on a petrol and diesel ban by 2035 ‘without any significant consumer incentives to help motorists buy an electric car’.
It warned: ‘Yet it is increasingly clear that private buyers need more support to switch.’
Chief executive Mike Hawes said factors such as high energy prices, inflation and interest rates, charging anxiety and ‘mixed messaging from government’ had restricted consumer demand for electric cars.
He stressed: ‘Manufacturers have been asked to supply the vehicles, we now ask government to help consumers buy the vehicles on which net zero depends’.
Mr Hawes noted: ‘Market growth is currently dependent on businesses and fleets. Government must therefore use the upcoming Budget to support private EV buyers, temporarily halving VAT to cut carbon, drive economic growth and help everyone make the switch.’
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