Stellantis has announced it will sell the tiny electric Fiat Topolino city car in the U.S. Fiat CEO Olivier François confirmed the news at Art Week Miami where he was debuting a one-of-one Topolino art car. The timing of the launch, as well as details such as pricing and U.S. specifications, will come next year.
The Topolino (“little mouse” in Italian) is a strange little thing designed for use in dense European cities. In addition to its cutesy styling and tiny dimensions, it makes do with only 8 horsepower and a 47-mile range. Its top speed is a mere 28 mph. Nevertheless, Stellantis must see a market for it in the U.S., particularly after President Trump lauded Japan’s Kei cars and asked for them to be sold in this country. A Stellantis representative told CNBC, however, the president’s remarks had no bearing on the company’s decision to sell the Topolino here.
Is Stellantis Cunning Or Crazy?
Technically, the Fiat Topolino isn’t even a car by regulatory standards. It’s classified as a two-seat electric quadricycle and shares more in common, at least functionally, with a golf cart than a small car. That may be how Fiat intends to bypass a whole host of U.S. regulations, which are required to be met before foreign cars can be imported.
Fiat did reveal it was motivated to make this decision after taking the Topolino around the U.S. to gauge consumer interest. It appeared at the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance and the 2025 New York and LA auto shows. The response must have been overwhelmingly positive, though we wonder if the public was aware of the Topolino’s technical shortcomings. Those include a tiny 5.4-kWh battery that can only be charged via a Level 1 wall outlet, so it can’t use public fast charging stations.
That said, Fiat may upgrade the Topolino’s tech specs for U.S. consumption. More power, faster charging, and maybe even a larger battery for greater range would help. Doing so, however, will affect the microcar’s price, which will presumably already come with a tariff attached since it’s built in Monaco. In Europe, the Topolino starts around $11,500.
TopSpeed’s Take
On the one hand, we’re stoked an automaker is taking a chance on bringing such a cool and quirky small car to the U.S. On the other hand, Stellantis has a terrible record of selling EVs so far, which includes the forgettable Fiat 500e, and the Topolino’s use case is so limited as to render it a niche product before it even goes on sale.
Cities in the U.S. are different than European cities. The people who live in them own a car so they can leave the city when they want to, which the Topolino can’t do. We see its target customer as someone older who lives in a gated community and wants something to tool around in that’s more substantial than a golf cart. The Palm Springs and Palm Beach set. We still wish Stellantis all the luck in the world selling Topolinos stateside, because it’s probably going to need it.
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