New Fiat 500 due before 2019 with 48-volt hybrid tech

The venerable Fiat 500 is expected to ditch its 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel engine in favour of cleaner 48-volt hybrid innovation when the new design is exposed before the end of the decade.
In an effort to decrease harmful NOx emissions, Fiat Chrysler manager Sergio Marchionne is taking a look at cleaner as well as much more fuel effective powertrain choices for cars across the range. While these will include plug-in hybrids on high-end high-end designs from Alfa Romeo as well as Maserati, the Group’s smallest cars and trucks will embrace a much more economical approach.
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“We will have to play with a range of solutions,” Marchionne told us. “There are extremely few things that are specific in this market – aside from one, as well as that is that little displacement diesels are dead. I believe whatever else is fair play, so we’ll experiment.”
However, while Marchionne insisted the expense would have to find down before plug-in superminis were a reality, he conceived that moderate hybrids were a rational next step.
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“I believe hybrids are inevitable,” he said. “We’re all moving in the best direction. The concern is not the technology, it’s a concern of the expense as well as whether the consumer will pay.
“We still make a extremely big number of little cars and trucks like the [Fiat] Panda as well as Fiat 500. putting full hybrids into a vehicle in that section is going to kill you. We requirement to discover other solutions, as well as that’s why I believe we requirement to accept 48 volt systems in a much more sensible way.”
Fitting such a system ought to guarantee the next-generation Fiat 500 is both quicker as well as less expensive to run than the present car, while doing bit to impact listing costs or PCP monthly payments. However, with the small rival updated last year with a series of late-life nips as well as tucks, it’s unlikely we’ll see an all-new 500 before 2019.
What do you believe of Fiat’s plans for the next 500? let us understand in the comments…