Americans’ love for bigger vehicles is sending away another minicar — this time, the Fiat 500.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is ending production of the current-generation subcompact car and the 500e electrified version for the North American market, spokesman Bryan Zvibleman said Tuesday. They are produced in a plant in Toluca, Mexico, which also makes the Jeep Compass compact SUV.
“As consumer preference continues to shift toward larger vehicles, we’re seeing competitors and consumers vacate the small-car segment,” Zvibleman said in a statement.
Present inventory of the 2019 models will last into 2020, Zvibleman said. Production of the 500e ended in June. The final manufacturing run of the Fiat 500 will be in November.
U.S. sales of the Fiat 500 were down 25% year-over-year through June, the most recent data the automaker has reported. It also was the Fiat brand’s top seller so far this year, though the Fiat 124 Spider roadster sold more vehicles in June.
The roadster along with the Fiat 500X all-wheel-drive compact crossover and the five-passenger Fiat 500L utility vehicle still will be available in North America.
Conversely, the Italian-American automaker in November said it was investing to build the Fiat 500 as its first battery-powered car marketed in Europe as a part of plans to spend $5.7 billion through 2022 on its factories in Italy.
In 2016, FCA announced it would stop selling the compact Dodge Dart and mid-size Chrysler 200 car to focus its efforts on the growing trucks and SUVs segments. Other automakers, including Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., followed with cuts to sedan offerings.
Poor sales led Fiat to pull from the American market in the early 1990s. After the Italian automaker merged with bankrupt Chrysler Corp., the car returned stateside in 2011. In its first full year, Fiat sold 43,772 vehicles in the U.S. In 2018, that number dropped to 15,521, a 40% decline year over year.
bnoble@detroitnews.com
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