Stellantis is going to have two one-vehicle brands in the US in 2024: one is Chrysler and the other is Fiat. After an era of seemingly throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, the brand will go back down to selling a single vehicle in the U.S. in the form of the new Fiat 500e EV. But how do you get people excited about a brand that sold less than 1,000 cars in 2023? By launching new versions of the car like apparel or custom shoes.
Speaking to Automotive News, head of Fiat North America Aamir Ahmed explained how the brand plans to get people interested in the 500e going forward. Instead of regular ad campaigns, Ahmed says the brand will launch different versions of the 500e in the same way new shoes or clothing brands drop special editions. From Auto News:
We’re going to more closely align ourselves with fashion and apparel in how we launch vehicles,” Ahmed told Automotive News. “That’s done for a reason, because that lends itself better to a digital campaign than what we’ve done in terms of an auto show. I can’t afford to do an auto show reveal every few months to introduce a new version of the car, right? It’s not sustainable. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to continue to drop vehicles. We’re going to find creative ways to do that digitally.
The brand will apparently not “follow norms” by relying on a new digital showroom called the Fiat Live Store. Think of it as Fiat’s way of easing into direct sales. Fiat says it’ll allow you to purchase the 500e without having to go to the dealership. Currently, the live site allows you to configure a 500e and put down a $500 deposit for one before a purchase order is sent to your local dealer. If you’re not ready to buy, you can speak with a Fiat Genius to get info about the car, something Ahmed says took inspiration from Apple and its in-store Geniuses.
Weirdly, Ahmad says it don’t expect the 500e to sell in big numbers, even though it’ll be the cheapest EV on the market. Instead, Fiat would rather have the 500e be an experience for customers.
“We need to make sure that we deliver on what the brand promises, and that’s joy and happiness and love and making sure the car manifests all that. I spend all of my time making sure that the customer experience is perfect,” Ahmed said. With all of this hinging on the success of a single vehicle lineup, all I can say is good luck sir.