It’s October, which means it’s time for pretty much every automaker to roll out a chart detailing how many of each car it sold over the last three months. Sometimes the data in one of these charts looks good, sometimes it looks not-so-good, and sometimes it’s just plain bizarre. To that last point, the Fiat 500L has reappeared on Stellantis’ sales charts, which feels like a bit of a head-scratcher.
While the Fiat 500L was supposed to be a larger Fiat for greater success in America, it launched with the unflattering addition of a dry-clutch dual-clutch transmission as the two-pedal option, had seats seemingly designed for skinny butts, and was probably just too weird for America. Car And Driver once described it as “Fiat’s five-door mop bucket,” and yeah, the styling was a little dorky. Perhaps as a result, the 500L has been dead in America for about five years, but it’s back on the charts.
You know how many 500Ls Stellantis sold in America last year? Zero. Zilch. None. However, in the third quarter of this year, the automaker reportedly sold two of them. Yeah, two examples of a car that’s been a ghost since late 2020. Of course, this could be reconciliation of old data, but given how Fiats aren’t exactly quick-sellers, I want to believe.
I want to believe that two particularly intrepid individuals independently spotted dusty, pug-faced small MPVs lingering on Fiat lots and didn’t have the heart to go home without them. So, they struck deals, got the detailers to brush the cobwebs off, and drove home in their new-old Fiats because there really isn’t anything left that’s like them. Sure, you could buy a subcompact crossover, but the 500L is more of a mini-minivan. It’s in an entirely different category of practicality, offering 68 cu.-ft. of cargo space with the rear seats down. You aren’t getting that in a Toyota Corolla Cross or a Subaru Crosstrek.
Weirdly, the 500L isn’t the only zombie car on Stellantis’ third-quarter sales report. On the Dodge side of things, the chart also lists eight Caravans, six Darts, and 13 Journeys. You know, cars that haven’t been produced since 2020, 2016, and 2021 respectively. That’s before we even get into more recent discontinuations like the Chrysler 300, Ram ProMaster City, and Jeep Renegade, all of which appear on the sales chart.
I guess if you’re the type of person to lament that cars have grown too tech-heavy in the past five years, there’s a silver lining here. While fewer and fewer automakers are making them like they used to, your local Stellantis dealer might still be selling them like they used to.
Top graphic image: Fiat
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
I had a friend who has a 500L and loooooooooooooved it.
I’m not surprised actually. The headroom/visibility alone would make it nice to live with as an urban runabout, in spite of any other issues.
I wonder if there is a way to find all the VINs that have been assigned but not registered ( probably not from public information ), or find interesting gaps in series of registered VINs. The interesting gaps info is probably discoverable from the carfax data pile.
In these photos the 500L doesn’t look as goofy as it actually does in the flesh. I had a 2013 500 Abarth that I loved for seven years, and hoped that Fiat would finally figure out the US market. Sadly they didn’t. My wife had a 500X for a few years, but both the engine and automatic transmission were significantly suboptimal. We’ve both upgraded to wonderful Alfa Romeo Stelvios, but Alfa’s also obviously failed to succeed in the US. Stellantis appears to be seriously cursed, which is sad to me. They actually make some decent vehicles, and have some talented designers. Unfortunately, their management is demented!
They really nailed the look of the 500x. It scaled perfectly. But the 500L was a miss.
Darts?!
68 cubic feet? That’s pretty damn good. The Prius v has 67 with the rear seats down.
Not that I would want to trade…
I had a friend who drove one of these horrifying shit piles, and he actually liked it. He was a fashion photographer and had immaculate taste in things like clothes, shoes, etc., but obviously horrifying taste in automobiles. I could never quite reconcile that in my brain.
I actually really liked the Cinquecento and always thought it would be fun to have an Abarth to fuck around with, but the 500L is just an unholy abomination. A Multipla would be an improvement, at least there’s logic behind the ugliness of a Multipla, whereas the 500L is just ugly for ugly’s sake.
I drove one of these at an auto show back in like 2016 because Fiat was giving out gift cards just to drive one. It was the worst new car I had driven up to that point, and didn’t understand who would buy one. I think it averaged only 16 MPG on the drive I did around town (even though it had a tiny 4 cyl), had really bad responsiveness and was very slow, had very uncomfortable seats and headrests, along with poor ride quality.
Maybe somebody imported the Multipla couple years ago as it passed the 25 year mark. Then it inevitably fell apart because it’s a 25yr old Fiat after all. So, they went shopping for something just as ugly, but new.
I’ve seen dealers with parking garages that will loose a car for a few years. I know a guy that works for the company that does alot of dealer websites. When they migrate data from some of the old databases the dealers use sometimes they would find a car like that because it was visually there on the website. It was normally in a corner somewhere. Some of those big holdings lots it happens too because no one knows what’s what and doesn’t think oh that’s been here a really long time or we don’t even sell those anymore.
I’ve called ahead to a dealer to confirm coming to see a car listed on the website only to show up 2 days later and have to drive my own car around to 3 of their lots because no one was sure where the car was stashed. So this is believable for a couple of cars but based on the rest of the list including 6 Darts pushing 10 years old it feels like something else must be happening here…
I inquired about to sub 1000 mile new Hyundai Genesis Coupes on the new Genesis dealer lot. apparently the company never sold them, but used them for technician training in California and then somehow go to a dealer lot in the midwest a decade later. they were 2014 or 2015 models. I will say I was at least intrigued as the price was pretty low for a nearly new “on Paper” car. but I also know how fuel systems and super low fuel in the tank can mess with even new stuff if it sits too long. I am not sure I would feel fully comfortable buying NOS cars that have been sitting in one place on the back corner of a dealer lot for too long
I heard about a similar situation with Mercedes used for training in Georgia and then ending up a dealer somewhere outside of Chicago. I’d be scared of those too. I got a good deal on a Tiguan that was a little over 2 years old from the manufacturer date and with only 17 miles I think sat most of the time. I got the dealer to replace the battery and the tires from being slightly flat spotted. I’ve been tempted on a few 3+ year old nos I’ve ran into but just have bad feelings about them.
The 914/6 I inherited had spent 4 years in the San Francisco Porsche dealer inventory when my uncle bought it on a tip from someone at Porsche. It had some sort of weird equipment delete spec that made it even less sellable.
By the time it was out of warranty, those problems would be fixed I imagine. One would want to make certain the loaner car policy was good first though.
I have a 2014 500L trekking with the Turbo engine and 6 speed manual. Its been a terrific car as of 80K miles, with a huge interior, a good mix of ride & handling, and a festive peaky turbo engine. The trekking trim is a big step up in appearance over the base models, and probably should have been standard.
The 500L was a good car, killed by a stupid name and an atrocious automatic transmission.
“Yeah, two examples of a car that’s been a ghost since late 2020. Of course, this could be reconciliation of old data, but given how Fiats aren’t exactly quick-sellers, I want to believe.”
Yeah, recalling how Lancia made just less than 500 (some sources say 1,000, though) road-going examples of the Stratos from 1973 to 1975 for homologation purposes but they sold so slowly that one could still buy a Stratos brand new in 1980.
Now a Lancia Stratos in good condition will easily fetch half a million dollars. Doubtful that in 50 years Fiat 500Ls would go for that much except maybe for the one that the Pope rode in when he visited the US a few years ago…
I wonder how often someone buys just the right car for themselves and it gets totalled. They might be delighted to be able to get the exact replacement. If my Golf Sportwagon were totalled, there would be nothing available these days that would be comparable. I would have to shop the used market and cross my fingers.
I’d like to know what was paid by the buyers for these two Fiat 500Ls.
They’re not as cute as the 500x, which (to me) looks like a scaled-down Porsche Macan (sort of).
I drove the plain 500 when if first came out. It had some positive points, but I certainly didn’t like it enough to buy one, despite coming in good colors and having a manual transmission available. The off-white plastic all over the dash looked nice, but I’d worry that it’d yellow over time if parked in the sun. Also, the window glass seemed very thin, and you could wiggle/twist the hatch when it was raised, which suggested rattles over time.
I know it’s not particularly reliable, and doesn’t even drive that well, but if it were cheap enough, I’d probably buy a 500X and just see how it goes for a few years. 🙂
We should talk about the Fiat 500L more. Yes “mop bucket” accurately describes it, but it sure is a shame that quirky describes almost nothing on the market right now. The Cube, Element, Veloster, Juke, and many, many more have absconded from showroom floors. And that’s a real shame.
Also, who else remembers when Pope Francis, shortly after his rise to pope, came to the States for an official visit, and the car he was photographed in was a Fiat 500L. I suppose it is Italian, but seeing the Pope crammed in the back of a Fiat made for some really funny press photos.
Years ago I saw a brand new Suzuki on a lot four or five years after they’d pulled out of the US market, and I thought that was amazing (also a tough thing to sell, and getting harder by the day).
I can’t fathom a dealership paying floorplan fees on a decade old car. These must have come from some sort of corporate lot that they’ve been languishing on since they left the factory.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if they were all bought together as a fleet sale.
I bet this is it, FCA/Stellantis has an employee lease program, and if someone were to order a car, and then quit before delivery I could see a scenario like this happening. I’m guessing these just sat around until someone figured out what to do with them.
I still think something like this was put into the fleet as a service loaner and when it got too tired for that it became a parts runner. All the while run on dealer plates and never registered until now so on paper it’s “new”.
Would a dealership be big enough to need a half a dozen of them? I suppose across multiple locations, yeah, that could make sense.
Would they then liquidate them through an auction house, or sell them to the public? (I guess that begs the next question – can you sell a new car through an auction house?)
Either way, they must have been really cheap.
I’m waiting for a Chrysler sales report to have a Cordoba on it. Now that would be impressive!
Imagine being manager of a Dodge dealer, coffee cup in hand as you look out over a sea of unsold Hornets, reading these sales numbers and wishing you still had some Darts and Journeys on the lot.
Six Dodge Darts?
Is that not more headline?
A near-decade old zombie.
Let’s talk about these Darts! I feel like we hear about Dart sales every year.
How many does Stellantis still have of these in reserve?
And they seem to be increasing. If a zombie Dart bites, say, a Charger, does that car then become a zombie Dart?
Nah. Someone broke into the dealer lot… and left another pair of Dodge Darts there.
A banjo player’s touring van was stolen with his banjo inside.
The van was found abandoned on the side of the road with two banjos inside.
No, you’re thinking of vampires. Of course, considering the way the paint reacts to sunlight on Mopars, you may be onto something. Can you see them in a mirror?
They are a key part of the strategic zombie car reserve, doled out to the American public in periods of extreme buffoonery.
Those random Darts are just Stellantis seeing if they can hit the bullseye.
I wanted a new Dodge
Though I know that isn’t smart
Ordered an EV
But they sold me an old Dart
I keep forgetting that the 1959–1976 Dart isn’t the only one. A nos 1975 slant six three on the tree two door would take my money.