Fiat is bringing this tiny city car to the U.S.
By: Luke Ramseth (The Detroit News)
Coming to a showroom near you?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Fiat Topolino, a pint-sized city car made for navigating narrow and congested European streets, is coming to the land of oversized pickups and SUVs, brand CEO Olivier Francois says.
Fiat recently showed off the electric two-seater that maxes out at 28 mph at auto shows in New York and Los Angeles, Greenwich, Connecticut's Concours d'Elegance and the recently-concluded Miami Art Week.
A handful of U.S. dealers were showing them off in their showrooms over the last few months, and VIPs got rides in them at last summer's Roadkill Nights in Pontiac.
The Stellantis NV brand says reactions have been positive, and it now plans to proceed toward U.S. sales as soon as next spring.
"The Fiat Topolino, our small, joyful, colorful car that is now everywhere in Europe, has made several appearances in the U.S. over the past year, including last month at the LA Auto Show, where it's creating tremendous excitement among consumers," Francois said in a Monday announcement of a special artist-designed version of the car that's on display in Miami.
"So much so that I’m happy to share that we’ll be bringing the Fiat Topolino to the U.S., with more details to come next year.”
The Topolino would join just one other model that Fiat sells in the U.S., the 500e. That model is also marketed as a small electric city car, albeit one that can be driven on a freeway. Fiat has sold only about 2,000 since they hit the American market early last year.
Topolino means "little mouse" in Italian, and the car is indeed closer to the size of a golf cart than a traditional vehicle. In Europe — where Fiat started selling the Morocco-built Topolino in early 2024 — they are classified as a quadricycle, not a car, which allows for low-speed urban use and fewer licensing and safety rules.
Suitcase storage is available using a rack mounted to the back. Battery range checks in at about 50 miles, and the Topolino charges using a cable that's plugged into a standard household outlet. In Europe, Fiat prices the Topolino at about 10,000 euros or $11,500, and the brand has offered a lease deal there with monthly payments of around $45.
News of the Topolino's U.S. arrival comes amid a recent flurry of interest in tiny vehicles — specifically Japan's kei cars — after President Donald Trump praised them as "very small" and "really cute" at a recent press conference.
Trump promised that they would be allowed to be built in America. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later noted that they would provide a more affordable transportation option. But regulatory hurdles remain for these microcars to hit the streets en masse — and big questions remain about whether they would be particularly popular with American consumers anyway.
Stellantis spokesperson Diane Morgan said the Topolino U.S. announcement just happened to come as Trump started talking up tiny cars, with Francois having previously planned to discuss the vehicle's American arrival at the recent Miami event.
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Whittling away at efficiency killing regulations would allow these types of vehicles to evolve better performance and utility.
With a top speed of 28 mph, this will be a tiny market. I think the souped up golf carts that people are using for community transportation would be favorable to this little car. I would not bet on this being a success here.
The meager performance of the vehicle is not a technical issue. The performance is being deliberately limited to comply with regulations. Government over regulation almost guarantees failure.
There are smaller vehicles (motorcycles in particular) with a smaller footprint and lighter weight capable of achieving 200 mile per hour. A trike motorcycle is not bigger than this Fiat, has fewer safety features than this Fiat, and can travel well above highway speeds. So, the limitations on the Fiat are not technical.
I did not speak technically, I spoke of the market.
It's a niche market similar to motorcycles, ATVs. UTVs, and snowmobiles. There's only about 500,000 motorcycles sold in the US per year. Obviously motorcycles are not going to replace road yachts.
You specifically cited the top speed of 28 mph as to why the market will be tiny. That's a regulatory limit and not a technical limit. Would removing the regulatory limits that constrain performance make these vehicles more attractive? Would removing the regulatory limitations allow the market to become larger?
I stated that to illustrate that this likely will compete with community 'golf carts'.
If these vehicles could engage in normal traffic (at least 50 mph) then that would place them in a much larger market.
Yes then at least they could drive it around town and on secondary roads, just not on the highways. 28mph isn't going to cut it around here since the average road speed is about 10mph over the posted speed limit and even city streets usually have at least 25mph posted speed limits but as soon as you hit the secondary roads its 35 to 45mph. I can just imagine all the honking horns and profanity directed at that car if it were driving in my town.
It's ugly enough for me to want one. However, Canadian reviewers were largely disappointed.
A quote: " Without air conditioning, the Topolino is just an Easy-Bake Oven on 14-inch wheels".
There is a nice air flow between the windows and holes in the floor where your feet propel the vehicle.
A cab over riding lawn mower
now what have poor riding lawn mowers done to deserve that comparison ?
Just slap a Hemi sticker on the side....
Which means keep it in your Hemisphere, not ours !
Or a John Deere sticker ... to please charger.
Gonna have to guess my post was misinterpreted. When I stated our Hemi sphere, I was including myself and Charger as being in the same Hemi.
Wasn't meant as a dig, as i ve no beef with Charger. He may even, on occassion, get a Charge out of my commentary, for free even...
I thought that was funny, When I was a teenager, I put Richard Petty racing stickers on our riding lawnmower.
Looks like a shrunk down 500. Size aside, it won’t be a success in the US. Fiat struggles to sell the 500 here because of quality/reliability issues. That type of problem is not corrected overnight.
I'd rather have this 1936 Fiat 500 Topolino