FIAT of San Francisco, the first FIAT studio to locate in ‘The City by the Bay’, is open for business in the Van Ness Avenue corridor. Although this isn’t particularly exciting news for us over in the UK, it is for our American cousins as the new establishment has opened it’s doors at a very timely moment. That moment is of course, ready for the first sales of the new Fiat 500e – the all electric version of Fiat’s super mini.
First shown at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show (just down the road from San Fran.) the Fiat 500e was always touted to be available in California toward the end of 2013.
With zero-emission goodness, the Italian car will offer owners a cute alternative to other electric cars with a striking grille design and a neat but futuristic interior like something from a retro-future sci-fi film.
The all-new battery-electric powertrain produces 111 horsepower (83 kW), recharges in less than 4 hours with its Level 2 (240 volt) on-board charging module (OBCM) and delivers more than 80 miles of estimated range, with city driving range typically exceeding 100 miles without any CO2 emissions [at the exhaust]. Plus, there’s an estimated 116 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) city.
Making sure the all-new 2013 Fiat 500e delivers world-class EV handling and braking performance, engineers designed a new chassis and suspension for the new EV powertrain, while further solidifying the engaging European driving dynamics the FIAT brand and Cinquecento are known for.
The all-new Fiat 500e pushes its iconic Italian design forward with its wind-tunnel-sculpted shape and retro-futuristic dot-matrix styled cues for a cutting-edge look. To achieve a 13 percent improvement in aerodynamics (0.311 coefficient of drag (Cd) compared to the 2013 Fiat 500 Lounge’s 0.359 Cd), the Fiat 500e features eight exterior enhancements and more than 140 hours of wind tunnel testing and refinement. The result is a purposeful design that enables this Cinquecento to achieve an additional five miles of range.
Source; Fiat
