A couple of days ago, Fiat unveiled a host of micromobility solutions with uniquely Italian touches. As well as giving its electric Topolino LSV new colors and partnering with a coffee roaster that would presumably set up shop on Italian street corners using the Fiat TRIS three-wheeler, the company’s social media posts show the Topolino having arrived in the US.
As well as the Dolce Vita sort of laid-back “good life” touch Fiat is eager to apply onto anything it currently builds, the most interesting point in Fiat’s micromobility suite is the Multiplina concept, which brings back the Multipla name and thinking. It’s not quite the replacement for the millennial Multipla, known to be horrendously ugly incredibly cool but more of a throwback to the 1950s original, with its basis on the aforementioned Topolino.
If you haven’t heard of the Topolino, maybe its Citroën Ami sibling is more familiar sounding. It’s a plastic, two-door, two-seater light car that doesn’t necessarily require a driving license to operate on roads, and it’s only available as an EV.
Traditionally, Europeans have gotten around in varyingly terrible plastic boxes in those use cases when they have been the most viable option for unlicensed drivers young and old. The Moroccan-built Topolino and Ami and their Opel-badged Rocks-e sibling come from established car manufacturers, and even if they have a certain amount of built-in flimsiness, they are perhaps closer to cars than some other offerings. Especially as they aren’t propelled by shaky, rattly diesels but smooth electric power, all six kilowatts of it. The battery is 5.5 kWh in size.
Because they are about as wide as they are long, with the front end looking the same as the back, the Topolino and especially the Ami look like garden sheds with wheels.
Despite being optimized for European streets, the Topolino started its journey across the Atlantic, towards American consumers. Late last year, Fiat’s CEO, Olivier Francois (above), stated that there have been plans to bring the Topolino to the United States:
“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. 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.”
In Fiat’s Instagram post shared a day ago, blurry Topolinos are rolling off the boat. No prices have yet been mentioned, or when the tiny cars will actually be available to be bought, but they’re there.
View this post on Instagram
In addition to the Topolino material, Fiat released a single image of the Multiplina concept car, which shows a longer-wheelbase monobox vehicle with narrow tires in the corners and a look that’s again derived from the classic 500.
Fiat has been eager to put the same face on various cars, yet it works well here, especially with the warm mango yellow hue of the two-tone bodywork. The top part is cream white, with a roll-up top to let the Italian sun inside.
The Multiplina, which uses a diminutive form of the word Multipla for a name, is in Fiat’s view yet another step towards a real car from the quadricycle standpoint. Cutting through the blurb, which features phrasing such as “maximizing space-efficiency through an intelligent, human-centric architecture,” the message is about fitting more people inside the same basic structure as with the smaller Topolino.
Let’s Post Some Photos Of The Fiat Multipla
The Fiat Multipla has never been known for being especially beautiful. The 1998-introduced six-seater MPV prioritized interior space over everything else, which gave it very bizarre looks. The design appeared to be modular, with the passenger compartment its own bulging space, with straight sides and a separate front. A while ago, Adrian analyzed the 1998 Multipla’s polarizing design in this great article.
In recent years, the Multipla has become a meme and a phenomenon due to its polarizing looks, which Fiat even ruined back in the day with a smoothing facelift. The Multipla name came from the Fiat 600’s egg-shaped multi-purpose version, which was a sort of proto-minivan.
The Fiat 600 Multipla
The absolutely original Fiat Multipla took its platform and basics from the 1955 Fiat 600, but added seats for up to six people. Since the engine was in the back, there was enough space to move the front bench atop the front wheels. The front seat was accessed via rear-hinged “suicide” doors, with large side doors providing access to the passenger seat rows. In other words, maximizing space-efficiency through an intelligent, human-centric architecture.
The layout and packaging are quite daring, especially as the front passenger also had the spare wheel next to their knees. Consider also that the engines were still the same as in the original 600, meaning a power output of 21hp at first and a 1960 power boost to 25 horsepower, and we’re talking about a plate that’s pretty full. At least if you hit something with it, you wouldn’t have had that much speed when you arrived to the accident.
The design is also very odd, as it has a more vertical front end and a sloping 600-shaped rear. As a result, it looks like a reversing egg.
Fiat built the 600 Multipla for a little over ten years, and it was replaced by the Fiat 850 Familiare in the late ‘60s. The Familiare kind of looks like a shrunken Corvair Greenbriar, and also had the same layout.
The replacement for the 1990s-2000s Fiat Multipla also dropped the Multipla name, as it was again a 500-based and 500-faced blob called the 500L. Again built for ten years, it never achieved the cult status that the Multipla did, and the seating arrangement was more normal, with no three-wide front seat. You could get it as a seven-seater version with a longer rear section. Currently, Fiat makes the 600 again, which is styled after the – you guessed it – the classic Fiat 500 and 600 of the 1950s, but it’s on the same platform as the Jeep Avenger and the Peugeot 2008. The recent introduction of the Fiat (Grande) Panda is a welcome break from putting the same front-end design on all the cars.
If it makes sense for Fiat to bring the plastic Topolino to America, it would make sense for it to introduce the Multiplina later on, as it will be bigger and feature more interior space. Let’s hope all the Multipla memes in the world convince the manufacturer to do it.
All images and top graphic: Fiat
Has anyone posted that video of the one rolling over on that really sharp turn in Monaco(?) I think it was.
Edit: https://youtube.com/shorts/wwoBibTYQ7M
It is a really fun design, I love it, but it makes ZERO sense in the US. How do they think anyone in their target customer segment wants to ride around in this on US roads together with lifted F150s and Escalades? If you take a glancing look at who buys large SUV and minivans in the US, it is not just men … many are women and they want to feel safe, and to feel safe they like to sit up higher, and be cocooned by a battleship worth of steel. My only conclusion here, the only logical reason I can think of is that Fiat wants to lose money
I doubt many of these will be sold for use on public roads. There is a growing market for $20,000 to $30,000 golf cars used in retirement communities and this looks perfect for that application.
https://golf.com/news/florida-villages-custom-golf-carts/?srsltid=AfmBOopgDDB52v1Rq10-HzrNQz12n97sVg5jep2TDfDtI9goWh4IutRn
“It is a really fun design, I love it, but it makes ZERO sense in the US”
Now you know why you don’t get small cars anymore.
And before anyone says “but we’re talking about small hatchbacks like the Fiesta, not electrified quadricycles”.
Small hatchbacks are too expensive and cannot compete in price with compact sedans like the Civic.
The only price-competitive segment is the A-segment like Mirage/Attrage or this rebadged Citroen Ami.
I feel like I mentioned this before, but I recall sitting in a Topolino at the last LA Auto Show and the big schtick was that the salesguy from Fiat challenged you to figure out how to get out of it, which wasn’t immediately clear. I think there was a pull somewhere or something… this was a while ago.
Anyway, people liked sitting in it, and getting stuck inside, but from my brief time there, I didn’t get that ‘everyone’s hankering to put down a deposit’ vibe that you do get with some cars.
I’m not sure what kind of license, or reg/ins you’d need to drive this thing on public city streets here in Los Angeles, or if that would even be allowed. I honestly don’t see this selling well here, except maybe for use on college/corporate campuses, outdoor mall security (like at the Santa Monica Promenade, where real cars aren’t allowed), and such…
It’s cute, and if everyone was driving these, they’d be fine for errands around town. But when 99.9% of people aren’t driving small vehicles like this, and so many folks are driving three-ton-plus SUVs, tooling around town in one of these little plastic boxes, and mixing it up with big-boy traffic would require a bit of a deathwish, or a false sense of invulnerability.
TBH, I really wonder how serious Fiat is (in general) about selling cars in America. The 500 (in various permutations) was a middling success at best, and frankly, probably a bit too small for most Americans to give serious consideration to. Fiat makes lots of interesting cars for other markets, but they seem to send us only those models that have the worst chance of genuine success.
Maybe their activities in the U.S. are intended to lose money over time? I’m no finance wiz, but you hear about such things when there’s something nefarious going on. Not to be a paranoid conspiracy theorist, but how else to explain Fiats decisions re: the U.S. market over the past couple of decades?
I love the looks of this thing but I don’t understand why Fiat would sell it here and not the 600X or GrandePanda. They barely sell any 500e’s, so what makes them think an even smaller almost-car limited to 30mph would sell in any meaningful numbers? Destined for high end resorts and retirement communities, Im afraid.
They offer a hybrid 500 with a manual in Europe, so still hoping they’ll make an Abarth version.
Oooh! Ooooh! Mr. Kotter! Mr. Kotter!
Grande Panda for me please. I even like the name. 🙂
The Little Mouse is wonderful, but a bit small for US roads. It would sell OK in Florida to the retirees, taking a few sales from the road-going golf carts. Otherwise, we would be much better off with a Panda.
Might not be such a big deal, since people are heavy and roads aren’t curved in the US, bit did they fix that MB A-class resembling “feature” ?
Toy
Apparently the Pope likes them:
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/pope-has-bought-20-fiat-topolinos-vatican-city
I’m 6’5″. I would like to “beta test” this vehicle.
I have no need for this thing but I absolutely love it and want one. How much?
In France they cost about 7000€ new, with all of our taxes included.
I kept asking for a new Multipla, so I guess I’d better get one. I was more thinking something based on the same platform as the EV Panda though…
Ok, this is when I get annoyed we don’t have anything like the L7 quadracycle or kei car regs: “Fiat claims the Multiplina will be able to reach a top speed of 55mph – the maximum allowed under the L7 regulations – and offer an “extended range”, which should make it a far more versatile offering, able to operate outside of city centres.”
A 55 mph city car would be fine for what I need. LSV is too limiting to really consider since our new neighborhood is on a 45 mph two lane which would be illegal to drive on and also terrifying at 20 mph under the speed limit.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/fiat-channels-original-multipla-retro-four-seat-microcar
Too slow?
https://youtu.be/1PDMDpcXf_E
There’s a fix for that!
675 foot pounds of torque in that thing sounds like at least enough.
Those Fiats remind me of that Robin Williams character
https://youtu.be/3KZ6mIsbDc4
It’s cool but I’m not sure that that it’s safe.for a car that light to be hard to see. It’s almost as dangerous as walking!
“Got to be good looking because he’s so hard to see” I hope it comes together for Fiat
*riff*
“Here come ol’ flattop, he come groovin’ up slowly”
The problem with vehicles like these is that to get almost anywhere in the US, you have to drive on a road where the speed limit is higher than the top speed of the car. There’s exceptions of course, but you’re just one medical specialist appointment away from having to drive all the way across town or to a bigger city.
I could see it as a second or third vehicle for local errands in the places you could drive one, but I don’t know who actually goes out and spends money on an extra vehicle just for that and only that. In this economy?
The biggest market for these will be planned communities, retirement villages, tourist areas, etc. In the US, that’s what they’re best at. Not a ton more expensive than golf carts and side by sides, but it’s enclosd and you you get ac. And that’s enough for a lot of people. It would be for me if I lived somewhere like that, fuck this heat.
It’s a cute little thing though, so I hope it sells well!
The only road to get to my house is 55mph for about 5 miles, if it can’t do that then I can’t even drive it home.
Is it illegal to drive less than the speed limit in the US?
Over here some roads (motorways mostly) are off-limits to slower vehicles, but other than that you can legally drive (eg) a 5mph tractor on a 60mph limit road.
Most states don’t have a minimum speed limit except on freeways, and lots of states don’t even have one on freeways. The states that do are mostly 40 or 45 mph, except Oklahoma, which seems to have a chip on its shoulder about being “slow”
I don’t think there are minimum speeds on any non-freeways. I know its legat to drive a tractor 15 mph or so on just about any road.
There are all sorts of ambiguously written laws about impeding traffic that seem to be capriciously enforced.
20 years ago, there was a protest against a speed limit where drivers would drive at exactly the limit in all the lanes of the freeway. They got tickets for impeding traffic, because if they were in the left lane, they had to be passing. The next time they actually drove more slowly in the right lane, then the last car would pull out to pass the others at about a 1mph differential. When it got to the head of the line, it would pull in, and the whole thing would repeat.
This was on a stretch of road that had a lower speed limit, and was set up as a speed trap. The township was really pised that this would happen on holiday weekends, where they would normally write $100,000 in tickets.
It is not illegal, but driving something that small with a lifted pickup truck about three feet from your back bumper is not…ideal. Especially when the speed limit is 10+ mph over the car’s maximum speed. Out here in the country there are a fair bit of tractors on the road, even where the speed limit is 55. People aren’t exactly patient with those either, although many will pull over occasionally to let traffic pass.
I’ve had some interesting experiences driving farm tractors on the road. Some people just don’t pay attention to how wide they actually are. And they get so pissed if they get their fenders torn off be a row crop cultivator.
What’s really scary is those guys that drive backhoe/loaders at 45 mph. They are not anywhere near being in control. Short wheelbase, no suspension, bouncy tires, huge moment of inertia, brakes made for steering not stopping. If something were to go wrong it would go wrong in an interesting way. Hay squeezers on the highway are a little concerning. I can’t decide whether a loaded or unloaded hay squeeze at 60mph is worse.
Where I live, Maryland, your vehicle must be able to exceed the speed limit by at least 10 miles per hour (16 kph) or it’s not legal on the highway. I don’t think this extends to secondary roads though.
600 a “reversing egg”? No, it’s an egg going forward…
Seems a bit Mickey Mouse to me…
Yeah, there must be some interesting trademark history there.
It has the footprint of a Dalek. Is The Bishop taking orders?
I think there is a pretty good North America use case for this. Hear me out.
No, not suburbia/sprawlia, where a conventional car is really the only day to day choice with freeways etc.
No, not large dense urban downtown centres where even managing a bike is a bigger pain than transit or ride share. Where would you park and charge this?
But those small to medium cities where maybe much of your needs are within a few miles of non highway roads, but the transit is dismal. Some may resort to a car, which is more than they need, or two wheeled options, but many, even in the age of ozempic are not quite fit enough for a bike/e-bike/scooter. Then add in the extra benefit of some weather protection and this makes sense. Keep in mind too, that the operating costs are probably next to nothing, unless some sort of licensing and insurance regime gets applied.
I get that side by sides are filling this role to some degree, but not everybody wants to cosplay dickswinger in an offroad vehicle and a nicer more stylish answer to a golf cart will appeal to some.
I’m pretty confident this will be FIAT’s best selling vehicle in North America, but yes, that’s a low bar.
I did a Google search this article is the same as the press release not interested
The biggest issue is whether golf-cart communities will classify it as one. If the Villages HOA decides it’s a car, its’ dead.
These look so neat and would be fun as hell to nip down to the shops and restaurants. Here in Philly, the cops wouldn’t even bat an eye at it, they aren’t interested in enforcing automotive laws… You’d have more trouble being plowed into by a Nissan with bald tires, no plates, and no bumpers.
I can’t read Garden Shed, without thinking of these British Football Fans that were unimpressed with the stadium that they visited.
https://youtu.be/AXJweeAal_U
“The battery is 5.5 kWh in size.”
Which is to say it’s STUPIDLY SMALL.
That’s less capacity than the battery in my C-Max Energi.
It’s less capacity than the lowest capacity battery in the 1st gen Leaf.
So even for a city vehicle, the range will suck and makes the crappy compliance BEVs from 10 years ago look good… which you can now buy used for very cheap.
Seriously, why would I bother with this underspec’d thing when I can buy a cheap used compliance BEV like this one for the same or less money?
Because it comes in yellow or orange?
The hotrodding possibilities are tremendous. People are doing hilarious things to them.
Put a Stark Varg motor and battery in it! I think those have 80 horsepower and 673 foot pounds of torque.
There’s one on YouTube
Somehow I’d feel like I’d still bust my knee in a Varg-powered Topolino. lol
Noice!
Also from the looks of it, the motor in the Topolino is one of those start-stop alternator motors driving a belt. You can get them cheap, and sticking another motor in with the first would be a cheap way to double the power if the battery was up to it. You would also get double the regeneration maybe.
Impressive.
I would have bought one a couple years ago instead of my Leaf if they had sold them here back then.
Now I live 20 minutes down dirt roads and 20 minutes on a 70mph highway from town, and the leaf burns through half its range round trip, so the Topolino definitely wouldn’t even kinda work out now.
They had better open a dealership at The Villages. The syphilis set will love them – they are like a golf cart with (I assume) A/C!
But other than at gated communities in Florida, they will sell DOZENS! DOZENS!
Don’t sleep on Texas. The number of golf carts and sxs related vehicles I see in the suburbs has me actually mildly interested in this.