Please Don't Buy Fiat 500e EV

SEE ALSO: Electric Vehicles-Solution or Diversion
SEE ALSO: Fiat Buyers Guide

WASHINGTON, DC - May 23, 2014; The AIADA newsletter reported that the CEO of the newly combined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is urging people not to buy his company's electric car.

As USA Today reported, it's a strange request from a world in which automotive CEOs are usually doing everything they can to hype their product lines, lure customers to showrooms, and as they say in the trade, "put butts in seats."

But Reuters reported that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told a Washington, D.C., conference this week that he would prefer no one buy the $32,650 Fiat 500e, a beautifully done, practical electric car. "I hope you don't buy it because every time I sell one it costs me $14,000," he is quoted as having said. (This is a reprise of what Mr. Marchionne said in August 2012 at an event in Auburn Hills)

The 500e was created to meet mandates of states such as California that require automakers to offer zero-emissions cars for sale. For the moment, electric cars are the easiest way to meet the mandate – and automakers approach the challenge with varying amounts of enthusiasm.

It's not the first time that plain-speaking Marchionne has decried the costs of electric cars. Previously, he pegged the losses at $10,000 a car.

For more on Marchionne’s comments regarding electric vehicles, click here.