Here’s Your First Glance At The Fiat 500 Hybrid, Complete With A Manual

We’ve known for some time that a hybrid version of the new electric Fiat 500 is being cooked up in Turin, and now the company’s finished the first pre-production prototypes of the car it’ll hope will bolster its sales in the face of more sluggish EV demand than expected.

Unsurprisingly, it looks… like a Fiat 500, complete with the new 500e's slightly frowny face. But on the inside, something strange is happening. What’s that sprouting forth from the centre console? Could it be… a six-speed manual gearbox?

Yep, it looks like the 500 Hybrid is going to be a rare example of a manual hybrid when it goes into full production late next year. There is a precedent for this – when the old new 500 went mild-hybrid in 2020, it too had a manual as standard.

That car used a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder boosted by a little 12V starter-generator motor. Fiat’s keeping quiet about the specs of the new one for now, but there’s a good chance it could use that same setup.

As for the rest of the car, it looks like it’ll look nigh-on identical to the existing electric 500e, save for the addition of a new front grille, which Fiat has cannily covered up on these pre-prod protos. Given the big bin liner thing covering much of the interior, there might be a few minor changes there, too.

Fiat first announced a hybrid version of the new 500 around a year ago, as it became clear that demand for full EVs wasn’t quite where lots of manufacturers expected it to be. The car will be built alongside its electric cousin at Fiat’s spiritual home, its plant in Mirafiori, Turin, and is set to go into full production in November 2025.

Given the alarming death rate of small, simple manual cars in recent years, the arrival of the 500 Hybrid will be most welcome. Don’t, however, expect a spicy Abarth version this time round – publicly at least, Fiat’s in-house tuner is still committed to an all-electric future with cars like the 600e.