Why Fiat has culled a popular colour from its range

Fiat is embracing its colourful Italian heritage, announcing this week that it will no longer offer cars in grey.

Starting with its new all-electric 600e SUV, Fiat says it will end production of grey exterior finishes and instead focus on colours inspired by nature – namely the “Italian Sea, Sun, Earth and Sky”.

“Italy is indeed related to bright colours such as the Sea of Italy, the Sun of Italy, the Earth of Italy and the Sky of Italy; landscapes that provide Fiat with a lot of inspiration for its cars,” the company says in its media release.

“The strategy is implemented to add a distinctive feature to Fiat’s cars in the automotive market, as 2023 is the year of a remarkable change for the brand.”

The decision is despite grey vehicles representing more than one in four new vehicles sold in the UK, according to official figures from the nation’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Current colours across the range that fit into the brand’s new ‘Brand of Colours’ philosophy include: Gelato white, Sicilia orange, Paprika orange, Passione red, Blu Dipinto di Blu, Italia blue, Venezia blue, Rugiada green, Foresta green, Rose gold and Cinema black.

“We broke the rules: we decided to stop the production of Fiat grey cars. This is challenging and disruptive and it is aimed to further reinforcing Fiat’s leadership as the brand of joy, colours, and optimism. Italy is the country of colours and, starting from today, Fiat’s cars too,” said Fiat CEO Olivier Francois, who also features in the above video.

While it was unveiled earlier this month, the 2024 Fiat 600e will be presented and detailed to the public on July 4.

The Fiat 600e is the all-electric replacement for the ageing 500X crossover, and is believed to be based on the same Stellantis CMP/e-CMP platform which underpins the likes of the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot e-2008.

It’s expected power will come from a 115kW/260Nm front-mounted electric motor mated with a 54kWh nickel manganese cobalt lithium-ion battery to provide a driving range of about 400km per charge.

Petrol-powered and hybrid powertrains are also supported by the CMP/e-CMP architecture and may be introduced in key markets – the Avenger, for example, offers a petrol engine only in a handful of European markets like Spain.

Stay tuned to CarExpert for our coverage of the Fiat 600e’s official debut on July 4.

MORE: Fiat reveals its first electric SUV