The Little Mouse That Never Was
The term “Topolino” remains so strongly associated with the original Fiat 500 model that the launch of the electric microcar Fiat Topolino feels like the return of a historic nameplate. But I bet you didn’t know that Fiat once already came very close to launching a “Topolino”…
Published in
4 min readAug 9, 2023
The name “Topolino” was never officially used during the production run of the original Fiat 500 (1936–1955).
Yet the term (which Italians use when referring to Walt Disney’s character Mickey Mouse) remains so strongly associated with the model that the launch of the electric microcar Fiat Topolino feels like the return of a historic nameplate.
But what is it?
It takes more than four wheels for a vehicle to be legally considered an automobile, and Fiat’s new Topolino isn’t that.
According to European law, the Topolino is a “lightweight quadricycle.”
These vehicles must weigh less than 425 Kg and carry no more than two people…
