The Fiat Topolino will only hit a maximum of 25 mph, but that’s fine for closed-community use.The sub-$15,000 pint-sized EV is attracting a lot of attention in affluent areas, according to a report by Automotive News.The golf-cart industry is a surprisingly large market, so Fiat might have an unusual winner on its hands here.
In the early days of the battery-electric vehicle, detractors would often put down EVs as little more than glorified golf carts. This behavior unfortunately overlooked what everyone knows about golf carts, which is that they are enormously fun. It’s arguably something of a pity that you’re required to play golf in order to drive them around.
Now, EVs are thoroughly mainstream and possibly a bit boring. However, with ubiquity comes diversification, and at the teeny-tiny end of the battery-electric family tree, there are some delightfully quirky machines. In Europe, these pint-sized EVs function as urban runabouts, ideal for narrow streets and limited parking. In the North American market, they’ve taken up golf.
Stellantis
Specifically, we’re talking about the Fiat Topolino, which is having a bit of a surprising flourish on its arrival into the United States, according to an Automotive News report. It’s never going to be a volume seller, but the sub-$15K price and friendly faced looks mean that it’s competing in a different sort of market: the $1 billion golf-cart industry.
U.S.-spec Topolinos are limited to 19 mph, although there’s a street-legal kit that’ll take things up to a brisk 25 mph. Peak power is just 8 horsepower. Tazio Nuvolari, eat your heart out. Still, that’s swift enough for running errands around a small town, and it’s ideal for gated communities and retirement villages, where most inhabitants are already using golf carts as transportation.
Stellantis
With a 5.8-kWh battery, the Topolino has just 46 miles of range, which combined with the low-speed rating means that it’s not much of a road-tripper. But for scooting around with a grin on your face? It’s ideal, and you don’t even have to stress about whether to select a four or a five iron.
Fiat initially shipped just 300 Topolinos over, but they’re getting snapped up at a surprisingly rapid pace. If they become more common, some golf courses might start looking into fleet purchases, especially as these little Italian cars feel a bit more substantial and luxurious than your standard golf cart.
The temptation is, of course, to try to organize a single-make series that sees Topolinos going door to door around the snootiest golf courses, to the outrage of groundskeepers and people in plaid pants. That might not happen, but perhaps your next golf game might be improved with some Lilliputian Fiat content. Play through!
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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.