The advertising has taken a bold step: the 500 emblem has been removed from the front, the "Fiat" badges have been erased from the rear and the "500e" lettering has been removed from the side chrome plates. Even the centre wheel caps have been left uncovered. These visual changes maintain the automotive anonymity that the story says: "If this car didn't have a logo, if it didn't have a name, if it didn't have a flag .... everyone would still recognise it... because when a car has an iconic design and always represents the joy of life, it can only be Italian, and it can only be Fiat."
The advert comes amid tensions between Stellantis - Fiat's parent company - and the Italian government. The government has been pushing for Stellantis to increase production in Italy. Recent incidents indicative of these tensions include the renaming of the Alfa Romeo Milano crossover to Junior, as models cannot bear names associated with a geographical location in Italy unless they are manufactured there. Also notable is the arrest of 134 examples of the Fiat Topolino in the port of Livorno due to the use of Italian flags. The specificity of these models is that they are not manufactured in Italy.
Reaffirming their commitment to local production, Stell/Solves have released announcements regarding future models - amid speculation over their branding strategy. They stated that production of the Fiat Panda will continue at the Pomigliano plant until 2030, and confirmed that the new hybrid version of the 500e will be produced at the Mirafiori plant in Turin.
However, it seems that tensions between the car manufacturer and the government are easing after Stellantis announced that production of the second-generation Fiat Panda will continue at the Pomigliano plant until 2030, as well as confirming the new Fiat 500 Ibrida (mild hybrid version of the 500e) will be produced at the Mirafiori plant in Turin. This will certainly allow the models to keep their emblems and perhaps add a few Italian flags on body or interior elements.
Source: Fiat
