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Second-generation Fiat 500 grows up, goes electric, gets posh

Going to the design well to reinvent an icon is difficult, especially when it's one of your greatest hits, so Fiat walked a thin line as it developed the first new 500 since 2007. Unveiled online, the hatchback is just as huggable as its predecessor — which is sticking around — and it honors tradition while embracing cutting-edge technology. Motorists long nourished on a diet of value-packed, bargain-priced Fiat models are in for a rude surprise. The new 500 rubs elbows with respected luxury cars, at least on paper, and it has morphed into more of an Instagram-friendly fashion statement than a genuine people's car. Stylists brought its retro-inspired design into the 2020s without completely reinventing it. It's still shaped like the 500 you're familiar with, though it's a little bit longer and wider than before and its wheelbase gains about an inch. Its front fascia wears a unmissable 500 emblem flanked by bright trim, its headlights are mounted higher and integrated into the hood, and its door handles are chiseled into the body. Out back, the vertical lights return with a more sculpted design. The line-up will ultimately include the quasi-convertible shown here, a hardtop, plus a wagon called Giardiniera and envisioned as a modern interpretation of the eponymous long-roof sold from the 1950s to the 1970s. Bigger changes welcome the passengers into the cabin. The driver sits behind a two-spoke steering wheel and a configurable, 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, while a 10.25-inch touchscreen propped up on the dashboard displays a new version of the well-regarded Uconnect infotainment system. It looks decidedly more upmarket than the 500 it replaces, though it's difficult to tell without seeing in person and sitting in it — thanks, coronavirus. Fiat made the new 500 all electric, all the time. It's built on a 42-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that zaps a 118-horsepower electric motor into motion. Its maximum driving range checks in at 199 miles, though the Italian firm obtained that figure by putting its city car through the optimistic WLTP testing cycle. It takes nine seconds to reach 62 mph from a stop, it has a 93-mph top speed, and plugging it into an 85-kilowatt charger fills 80% of the battery in 35 minutes. Alternatively, you'll need to wait 14 hours for a full charge if you plug it into the same household-spec outlet you use to keep your phone and your laptop juiced up.

Ram and Fiat Professional announce plans for new trucks, vans starting in 2015

Ram Trucks CEO and President Reid Bigland got his turn among the executives elucidating the near-term futures for brands in the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles umbrella, laying out the plans for both Ram trucks and Fiat Professional. After Bigland said that the company "will continue to invest heavily in commercial vehicles" for the Italian arm, he didn't give many specifics as to where that investment would go. What we do know for now is that a new Fiat Doblo will come next year - that's the truck we've been catching spy shots of and that will be the basis for the Ram ProMaster City.
In 2016 will come the next-generation Fiorino, a small cargo van sold in markets outside the US as a Fiat, as the Citroën Nemo and Peugeot Bipper. The European and South American markets will also get a new midsize pickup that same year.
Bigland's goal for Ram Trucks and Ram commercial is just a touch more ambitious: "Build the best pickup trucks and commercial vehicles in the industry" and increase NAFTA-market sales from 463,000 in 2013 to 620,000 in 2018. The waypoints along that road include a refresh for the Ram 1500 in 2015 and then a brand new 1500 to come two years later in 2017. Bracketing that, a refresh for the Heavy Duty lineup happens in 2016, and two years later it will also get an all-new generation.

Watch as U.S. auto industry springs back to life after lockdown

WARREN, Michigan — The Detroit Three automakers and their suppliers began restarting assembly lines on Monday after a two-month coronavirus lockdown in a slow revival of a sector that employs nearly 1 million people in the United States. On a chilly and damp Monday morning, hundreds of workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobile's (FCA) truck plant in Warren, Michigan, began lining up before 4 a.m. to start the 5 a.m. shift. Signs overhead read: "Let's restart." "I'm a little nervous," said Larry Smith, 53, of New Baltimore, who works on wheel alignment away from the assembly line. "They made all the precautions (and) they've done everything they can to prepare us ... I'm trusting in God." Detroit automakers on Monday said there were no issues with absenteeism as the plants opened. FCA reopened four U.S. assembly plants on Monday, including Warren Truck, on a single shift, as well as four parts plants. The reopening of car plants will be a closely watched test of whether workers across a range of U.S. industries can return to factories in large numbers without a resurgence of infections. General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and FCA have all been preparing for weeks to reopen their North American factories in a push to restart work in an industry that accounts for about 6% of U.S. economic activity. Investors welcomed the gradual restart, sending GM's shares up more than 9% on Monday. FCA shares rose 7.3%, while Ford's were up 6.7%. Auto companies have redesigned assembly lines and retrained workers in an effort to avoid coronavirus outbreaks that could derail production again. Workers entering factories on Monday were checked by temperature monitors. Face masks or shields are standard protective equipment. Jobs such as installing seat belts that used to require two or more workers to get close together inside a vehicle have been redesigned to keep people a safe distance apart. Plastic screens have been installed along assembly lines to separate workers leaning in to the engine compartments of vehicles. Break areas have been reconfigured to keep workers six feet apart. The Detroit automakers have collaborated with each other and with the United Auto Workers to develop common coronavirus safety practices. Other automakers in the United States are adopting similar safety measures.