July 31, 2024 • 8 mins
Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.
Bloomberg Pursuits Auto Columnist Hannah Elliott discusses the good, the bad and the cute about Italy’s electrified subcompact Fiat 500, which is back on sale in the US after a five-year break.
Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
If we had to pull our listeners and viewers about
one of their favorite things to hear about and who
to hear from, I would say her name would come up.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're saying, Hannah Elliott for VP. Is that what I heard?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You say?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
That works too?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
But just everything and anything she reports on, we know
everybody loves just here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I mean, she's got the best job out there. She
drives and then she writes about supercars and luxury vehicles.
Sometimes they cost millions of dollars, sometimes they cost only
thirty six thousand dollars. Hannah Elliot is Bloomberg Pursuits auto columnists,
and she joins us from our Los Angeles bureau the
all electric Fiat five hundred. Hi, Hannah, how was it
(00:52):
to get behind the wheel of this cute car?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
It was so fun. I have to say, I did
not know what to expect. Like you said, this is
a little bit below sort of our normal price range
that typically review. But of course Fiat and especially the
five hundred, comes from a really long heritage, you know,
a debut in nineteen fifty seven in Italy. Of course,
we've seen all the beautiful Italian movies with the five
(01:18):
hundred driving through the streets.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Of Italy, so how could I resist? Right?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Also, this car has been not been in the US
since twenty nineteen, and they just brought it back this
year as an electric vehicle. They're doing special drops, kind
of like with shoes or with records. I drove the
Inspired by Music version, which was the latest drop, and.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
It was so fun.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
You guys, it was like everything you need and nothing
you don't. And I think every electric vehicle should be
one of these.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
But Tactus, you said, it's kind of got everything that
you need. Walk us through because as I mentioned earlier,
you and you mentioned, I mean, you drive all kinds
of cars, all kinds of evs. Many it cost a
lot more money and have a lot of bells and whistles.
But why did you like it so much?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know? I liked it because it's kind of like
a no must, no fuss type of vehicle. It has
a range of about one hundred and forty nine miles.
That's kind of half where a lot of other evs are.
But you start to realize you don't really necessarily need
that many miles if you're just popping out to the
store to get coffee or just for your daily commute.
(02:25):
So I really liked how easy it was, and like
you said, Tim, how quickly it recharges. I actually did
find that it recharges extremely fast.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And also it's just zippy.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Now on paper, the five hundred eight it says it
gets to sixteen about a little over eight seconds, which
is not very much, but it feels really fast when
you're darting in and out of traffic, and you know,
this car is half the length of a lot of
other cars, including some of my longer ones that I own,
so you kind of just zip around. And I swear
(02:59):
I probably shaved off ten to fifteen minutes from my
commute just because I was zipping in and out of traffic.
And I had a really fun time doing it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Such an la thing to do, right, completely, that's so la, hey,
can you One thing I really liked about your story
was sort of the history of why Fiat has been
on and off in the US and Canada, not just
in recent years, but over the last I was going
to say thirty years, but like over the last fifty years.
What happened to take us into a little history there.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Well, it's a really good question.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You know, these were started to be made in Earnest
in the sixties, and they were just really focused on economy,
you know, very fuel efficient and kind of bare bones,
and they started to get a reputation for not being
very well made. I mean, these were sort of economy cars,
which were great for doing economy type things. But by
(03:51):
the time that the seventies and eighties came around and
America was building these huge metal, very cool cars, think
like Lincoln and you know, big Fords and big Chevyes, Camaros,
this Fiat it just seemed like, why would you want
to drive something that has hardly any power? And it
was really small and diminutive. It just kind of fell
(04:12):
out of fashion, to be honest, and so Fiat has
tried they tried bringing it back in. You might remember
in twenty twelve, you might remember the Fiat A Barth versions,
which was another attempt to get Americans excited about again
about it again.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
The A Barth was like this.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Very sporty manual version that actually is doing pretty well
on the secondary market right now.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
But again it just didn't really.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Hit and by twenty nineteen, in order to make it
legal again for the next generation, they would have had
to spend a lot of money to redo safety testing,
and it was just decided the sales aren't proving worth it.
But now we're going to try it again with the
electric version.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
I kind of like it. I'm rooting for it. I
have to say, all.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Right, but because you are so bad and you always
talk about the stuff you love and the stuff you
don't like, tell us about that jingle every time you
turn it on and off.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Oh man, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
There were a couple things that I did not I
did not like. Now this was it was It felt
like you're in a child's toy appliance. The jingle is
when you push the button to turn the car on,
and when you turned it off, there's this whole like
electronic melody that plays, and it's it makes me feel deranged.
(05:27):
It just feels too cloying, too sweet. It's like, we
don't need this. It's it's too much. Another little gripe
I had was this. You know, the single cup holder
is kind of out of sight, out of mind in
the cabin of the car, so that wasn't great, and
I did end up getting towed in the car through
a course of multiple events that involved a broken electric
(05:51):
charger and then a parking lot that apparently was private.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
And the car was cold when I went to go
charge it.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
But I have to say I did get the car
back four hundred and sixty six dollars later, and it
was fully charged, so you know, easy come, easygo.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
I got it back, no harm, four.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Hundred and sixty six dollars in cash.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Cash. Okay, there, it might have been a bit of
a shakedown, let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, okay, I hope you know, we'll talk to Chris
Rouser a little later in the week and I hope
that gets approved on the old expense report.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Okay, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I don't know how we go from this to
a historian.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Lamborghini company, another Italian company. Yes, this firy level of
all right, tell us about this story.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So Lamborghini has just released their first half earnings for
the year, and it's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
They have done well.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You know, they are reporting sales up more than fourteen
percent and record profits of over four hundred and thirty
million euros for the first half.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Of the year.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
And it's just interesting because a lot of other automakers
have reported really disappointing earnings and they're walking back projections
for the year, and Lamborghini is really bucking the trend.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And we really it looks like a.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Big reason for this is Lamborghini has committed to live
in the hybrid world for the time being, where other
automakers have really devoted a lot of money and other
resources into developing evs, and Lamborghini for a while looks
like it might be a little bit of a dinosaur,
like why aren't they advancing with everyone else? Well, now
(07:27):
they're looking a little bit smart because they've hedged their
bets and they are living in e in hybrid world
for the time being. They're going to announce their Urus
hybrid in a couple of weeks in Monterey, and they're
looking pretty smart. So Lamborghini saying, hey, our mix of
combining internal combustion with electric technology is suiting us just fine,
(07:49):
and we're gonna stick with that.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
For the time being. All right, great stuff, Oh my god,
so much fun.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Want Yeah? Do you know how easy, Hannah, it would
be to park this in Brooklyn?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Believably easy?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
It's a joy, and I've already received so many emails
of people saying they really love it, they want one.
I did get one email from a guy who drives
a nine to eleven.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Who said, you've got to be joking. So I read
every email. Love that you do. Hey, listen. Thank you
so much, as always, Hannah Elliott.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
She's auto columnist here at Bloomberg Pursuits. Check her out
on X at Hannah Elliott.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Also check her out uh Instagram.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Her Instagram is great
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
If we had to pull our listeners and viewers about
one of their favorite things to hear about and who
to hear from, I would say her name would come up.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're saying, Hannah Elliott for VP. Is that what I heard?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You say?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
That works too?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
But just everything and anything she reports on, we know
everybody loves just here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I mean, she's got the best job out there. She
drives and then she writes about supercars and luxury vehicles.
Sometimes they cost millions of dollars, sometimes they cost only
thirty six thousand dollars. Hannah Elliot is Bloomberg Pursuits auto columnists,
and she joins us from our Los Angeles bureau the
all electric Fiat five hundred. Hi, Hannah, how was it
(00:52):
to get behind the wheel of this cute car?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
It was so fun. I have to say, I did
not know what to expect. Like you said, this is
a little bit below sort of our normal price range
that typically review. But of course Fiat and especially the
five hundred, comes from a really long heritage, you know,
a debut in nineteen fifty seven in Italy. Of course,
we've seen all the beautiful Italian movies with the five
(01:18):
hundred driving through the streets.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Of Italy, so how could I resist? Right?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Also, this car has been not been in the US
since twenty nineteen, and they just brought it back this
year as an electric vehicle. They're doing special drops, kind
of like with shoes or with records. I drove the
Inspired by Music version, which was the latest drop, and.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
It was so fun.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
You guys, it was like everything you need and nothing
you don't. And I think every electric vehicle should be
one of these.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
But Tactus, you said, it's kind of got everything that
you need. Walk us through because as I mentioned earlier,
you and you mentioned, I mean, you drive all kinds
of cars, all kinds of evs. Many it cost a
lot more money and have a lot of bells and whistles.
But why did you like it so much?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know? I liked it because it's kind of like
a no must, no fuss type of vehicle. It has
a range of about one hundred and forty nine miles.
That's kind of half where a lot of other evs are.
But you start to realize you don't really necessarily need
that many miles if you're just popping out to the
store to get coffee or just for your daily commute.
(02:25):
So I really liked how easy it was, and like
you said, Tim, how quickly it recharges. I actually did
find that it recharges extremely fast.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And also it's just zippy.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Now on paper, the five hundred eight it says it
gets to sixteen about a little over eight seconds, which
is not very much, but it feels really fast when
you're darting in and out of traffic, and you know,
this car is half the length of a lot of
other cars, including some of my longer ones that I own,
so you kind of just zip around. And I swear
(02:59):
I probably shaved off ten to fifteen minutes from my
commute just because I was zipping in and out of traffic.
And I had a really fun time doing it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Such an la thing to do, right, completely, that's so la, hey,
can you One thing I really liked about your story
was sort of the history of why Fiat has been
on and off in the US and Canada, not just
in recent years, but over the last I was going
to say thirty years, but like over the last fifty years.
What happened to take us into a little history there.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Well, it's a really good question.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You know, these were started to be made in Earnest
in the sixties, and they were just really focused on economy,
you know, very fuel efficient and kind of bare bones,
and they started to get a reputation for not being
very well made. I mean, these were sort of economy cars,
which were great for doing economy type things. But by
(03:51):
the time that the seventies and eighties came around and
America was building these huge metal, very cool cars, think
like Lincoln and you know, big Fords and big Chevyes, Camaros,
this Fiat it just seemed like, why would you want
to drive something that has hardly any power? And it
was really small and diminutive. It just kind of fell
(04:12):
out of fashion, to be honest, and so Fiat has
tried they tried bringing it back in. You might remember
in twenty twelve, you might remember the Fiat A Barth versions,
which was another attempt to get Americans excited about again
about it again.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
The A Barth was like this.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Very sporty manual version that actually is doing pretty well
on the secondary market right now.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
But again it just didn't really.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Hit and by twenty nineteen, in order to make it
legal again for the next generation, they would have had
to spend a lot of money to redo safety testing,
and it was just decided the sales aren't proving worth it.
But now we're going to try it again with the
electric version.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
I kind of like it. I'm rooting for it. I
have to say, all.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Right, but because you are so bad and you always
talk about the stuff you love and the stuff you
don't like, tell us about that jingle every time you
turn it on and off.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Oh man, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
There were a couple things that I did not I
did not like. Now this was it was It felt
like you're in a child's toy appliance. The jingle is
when you push the button to turn the car on,
and when you turned it off, there's this whole like
electronic melody that plays, and it's it makes me feel deranged.
(05:27):
It just feels too cloying, too sweet. It's like, we
don't need this. It's it's too much. Another little gripe
I had was this. You know, the single cup holder
is kind of out of sight, out of mind in
the cabin of the car, so that wasn't great, and
I did end up getting towed in the car through
a course of multiple events that involved a broken electric
(05:51):
charger and then a parking lot that apparently was private.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
And the car was cold when I went to go
charge it.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
But I have to say I did get the car
back four hundred and sixty six dollars later, and it
was fully charged, so you know, easy come, easygo.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
I got it back, no harm, four.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Hundred and sixty six dollars in cash.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Cash. Okay, there, it might have been a bit of
a shakedown, let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, okay, I hope you know, we'll talk to Chris
Rouser a little later in the week and I hope
that gets approved on the old expense report.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Okay, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I don't know how we go from this to
a historian.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Lamborghini company, another Italian company. Yes, this firy level of
all right, tell us about this story.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So Lamborghini has just released their first half earnings for
the year, and it's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
They have done well.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You know, they are reporting sales up more than fourteen
percent and record profits of over four hundred and thirty
million euros for the first half.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Of the year.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
And it's just interesting because a lot of other automakers
have reported really disappointing earnings and they're walking back projections
for the year, and Lamborghini is really bucking the trend.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And we really it looks like a.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Big reason for this is Lamborghini has committed to live
in the hybrid world for the time being, where other
automakers have really devoted a lot of money and other
resources into developing evs, and Lamborghini for a while looks
like it might be a little bit of a dinosaur,
like why aren't they advancing with everyone else? Well, now
(07:27):
they're looking a little bit smart because they've hedged their
bets and they are living in e in hybrid world
for the time being. They're going to announce their Urus
hybrid in a couple of weeks in Monterey, and they're
looking pretty smart. So Lamborghini saying, hey, our mix of
combining internal combustion with electric technology is suiting us just fine,
(07:49):
and we're gonna stick with that.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
For the time being. All right, great stuff, Oh my god,
so much fun.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Want Yeah? Do you know how easy, Hannah, it would
be to park this in Brooklyn?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Believably easy?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
It's a joy, and I've already received so many emails
of people saying they really love it, they want one.
I did get one email from a guy who drives
a nine to eleven.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Who said, you've got to be joking. So I read
every email. Love that you do. Hey, listen. Thank you
so much, as always, Hannah Elliott.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
She's auto columnist here at Bloomberg Pursuits. Check her out
on X at Hannah Elliott.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Also check her out uh Instagram.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Her Instagram is great
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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