Fiat’s local range has been whittled down to just two polar-opposite models.
The company has discontinued its small Doblo van and 500X crossover, leaving just the large Ducato van and the ageing 500 city car.
The latter is still available in sportier Abarth 595 guise.
“The Fiat line up in Australia has been refocused towards consumer preferences, ensuring we are delivering products suited to the market,” said a spokesperson from Stellantis.
“Parts and technical support for Fiat 500X and Doblo will continue to be provided to customers.”
While the Ducato received an update last year, the 500 is no spring chicken anymore and Stellantis has yet to confirm if the new, all-electric 500 will come here.
Revealed last year, the new 500 won’t be offered with an internal combustion engine, leaving the current 500 to carry over alongside for an unspecified time.
The axing of the Fiat 500X sees Fiat leave one of the most popular vehicle segments in Australia.
First introduced in 2015, the 500X had its best year locally in 2017 with 760 sales. That year, it outsold all its mainstream European-brand rivals.
Though sales have held relatively steady in Europe since its introduction, but for an unsurprisingly rough 2020, the 500X has declined markedly here.
Sales winnowed away to 154 units in 2019 and then just 85 examples last year, or less than every other model in the small SUV under $40,000 segment except the SsangYong Tivoli XLV, the discontinued Jeep Renegade, and the Peugeot 2008 that was transitioning to a new model.
The 500X’s axing follows that of its Renegade platform-mate, though both live on in markets such as Europe.
The Doblo lingered on Fiat Australia’s price lists but the writing was on the wall, with the small van skipping model years 2019 and 2020 and Fiat selling only 35 examples last year.
That figure put it well below rival vans like the Peugeot Partner (190 sales) and Renault Kangoo (458). The Doblo’s best years were 2015 and 2016, when Fiat sold 133 units.
The small van segment overall accounted for only 2432 sales last year against 21,213 sales for the segment above it that’s home to the Hyundai iLoad and Toyota HiAce.
The axing of the 500X and Doblo, as well as the Abarth 124 Spider’s discontinuation last year, leaves Fiat with its two best-selling models.
The company sold 520 vehicles in the 500 family last year, including the Abarth 595, as well as 782 Ducato vans.
With Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Groupe PSA merging to become Stellantis, there’s now more internal competition.
The Doblo, for example, was a rival for the Peugeot Partner, though the Ducato’s Peugeot Boxer rival is the same van built in the same factory but with some styling tweaks.
The 500X, in contrast, had the redesigned Peugeot 2008 to contend with.
MORE: Fiat 500X news and reviews
MORE: Fiat Doblo news and reviews
