Fiat 500e for just taxes? Colorado dealer's crazy offer explained

To put it mildly, Stellantis is going through some rough times. With reports coming out that the Hemi didn’t have to be killed off after all as a now-ousted CEO once thought, the brand is trying to right the ship to battle tumbling sales.

Zero’s the hero number for a Fiat 500e

2024 Fiat 500e INSPI(RED)

Larry H&period; Miller dealer

One dealer in Colorado is going to extreme lengths to move units. Larry H. Miller Chrysler Dodge Ram Fiat in Denver, Colorado is offering a Fiat 500e with a 27-month lease and a $0 down payment. The monthly payment? That’s $0, too. At a calculated 10,000 miles per year, buyers then have the option to purchase the car at lease end for $17,388.45.

Wait, what? How is this happening in the mile-high city? Well, this is still an EV so it falls within the threshold required to obtain the local tax credit. In the state of Colorado, purchasing or leasing a new EV with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of up to $80,000 qualifies you for a rebate of $5,000. If the MSRP falls below $35,000, lessees will get an additional $2,500 off as long as the lease agreement has an initial term of at least two years.

There is a catch though: you still have to pay taxes on it as well as a small fee. Thankfully, news outlets did the math for us so the total sum comes in to just under $1,700, which breaks down to $1,297.68 plus a disposition fee of $395. Cough up the money and boom, you have a set of wheels for two years, warranty included.

From expensive to a stinkin’ good deal

Fiat 500e Interior

Fiat

This is a deal, in every sense of the word. Usually, something this cheap ends up being a hand-me-down from extended relatives that’s older and showing wear. Instead, you get a chic city car with cute looks and just enough tech to keep passengers entertained on the move. Autoblog drove the Fiat 500e not too long ago and found it to be fabulous with a couple of shortcomings.

The first such shortcoming is its range. This is a city car through and through, so the range is rather limited. The EPA says the 500e is good for 149 miles of combined driving and while a lot of people won’t drive that far in a day, it’s enough to induce the same range anxiety that plagued interest in EVs ten years ago.

Still, the 500e is capable of DC fast charging so it will reportedly take just 35 minutes to charge it to 80 percent, or up to 31 miles in 5 minutes.

The second shortcoming is the price. The base MSRP of a Fiat 500e is $32,500, with higher trims costing up to $36,000. That makes it hard to justify the relatively minuscule range compared to other EVs on the market. Now that one Colorado dealer has taken cost out of the equation though, the only obstacle standing between you and a new car is paying dues to Uncle Sam.

Final thoughts

Fiat 500e

Fiat

Fiat has never been able to replicate the success of the 500 in the U.S. Since its return to North America, sales of the reborn 500e have been in the hundreds of units. Now that Stellantis is trying to turn things around with new management though, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, if you live in Denver and are in the market for an EV, this Fiat 500e deal is certainly worth a look. At the time of writing, there are 30 units on the lot that are available to lease. Just make sure to read through the fine print.