Marchionne: Fiat 500 EV to cost $45,000+, lose $10,000 per car?

While executives being candid can certainly be refreshing, it appears that Sergio Marchionne may have gone a hair too far with his latest commentary on the Fiat 500 EV.

In January Fiat first showed the world a concept version of the upcoming all-electric version of the newly available Fiat 500 city car, but details on the production car have been expectantly sparse in some regards - until now.

Thanks to a particularly candid and revealing conversation between Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and media at Fiat's annual meeting earlier this week, we now know to expect an MSRP north of $45,000 when the diminutive EV finally comes to market, according to Automotive News.

That price is derived from a specific comment by Marchionne in which he complains, "The economics of EVs simply don't work. On the 500 that [Chrysler] will begin selling in the U.S. next year, we [Chrysler] will lose over $10,000 [per car] despite the retail price being three times higher" than the standard, gas-powered variation of the 500. Given that the Fiat 500 starts with a base price of an even $15,500, that means the EV will likely start at or above $45,000.

With a price like that, the 500 EV will be considerably more expensive than the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and the upcoming Ford Focus Electric, despite being quite a bit smaller than all three.

But what about the $32,000 price previously mentioned?
Before anyone gets too frazzled about the newly suggested $45,000 price by Marchionne, some may recall that when the concept car was first revealed the same man who recently suggested a price of $45,000+, suggested the car would be in the realm of $32,000, and as AN points out, even suggested that batteries accounting for the then-expected doubling of the vehicle's cost.

Given the nature of the report being quite fresh, an official correction may soon follow. Stay tuned.


References
1.'Chrysler faces $10,000...' view