Let’s be honest. Fiat hasn’t had many moments of success since it relaunched in the US market last decade. While the Fiat 500 was a nice retro city car, the automaker ultimately failed to appeal to the masses as the market shifted toward SUVs. The Jeep-based 500X and awkwardly wagon-shaped 500L were unsuccessful in North America, with the latter being discontinued along with the two-door 500 and, later, the Mazda-based 124 Spider. That leaves only the weak-selling 500X in Fiat’s barren US showrooms, at least, until the smaller 500 returns next year as an all-electric hatchback.

Announced in November, the 2024 Fiat 500e is much more substantial and sleeker than the gas-electric 500s that were pulled from our market a few years ago. It can’t come soon…