Armani, Quintessential Italian Designer, Redesigned Quintessential Italian Car
Armani and Fiat designed the ultimate Italian luxury car, in every sense of the word. Because I don't mean a slick, loud, ultra-fast supercar — I mean a tiny electric city car perfect for Italy's ancient and narrow streets.
At face value, Armani might feel like an odd fit for the Fiat 500e, a minute daily driver only capable of revving up 118 horsepower — for comparison, Fiat parent company Stellantis also owns Maserati, whose 2024 flagship cars range from 290 to nearly 600 horsepower.
But the Fiat 500e is actually a perfect counterpart to Armani's signature style of pragmatic luxury.
Designer Giorgio Armani's eponymous brand epitomizes a sense of utilitarian quality, underpinning peerless craft with genuinely useful design.
For instance, Armani's mainline collections often cut technical fabrics in comfortable, easy silhouettes both comfortable and approachable. Real-world luxury, if you will (as real-world as this sort of luxury gets, at least).
The Fiat 500e, meanwhile, is a real-world car meant for real-world drivers. It's attainably priced for a new car and it's designed for navigating lean European streets.
It's also a pretty quintessential example of contemporary Italian car design, making it a worthy match for a designer who's a pretty quintessential example of contemporary Italian clothing design.
Armani and Fiat also first collaborated on a special 500e in 2020, so this is more of a redux than a debut.
This time, two limited editions of the Fiat 500e were revealed for Armani's 90th birthday on July 11 (they don't release until 2025, however).
The cars are functionally identical, wearing embroidered leather seats and a laser-cut wood dash inside.
However, they importantly reflect two tiers of Armani on the outside.
On the one hand, there's the Armani logo right on the wheels, complementing the still-subtle branding seen elsewhere.
On the other, the cars are painted in special shades of Ceramic Greige and Dark Green Micinalised, tasteful tones that reflect the Armani design language.
Compare these two Fiats to the top-down Mercedes speedster that Armani co-created over a decade ago: These collaborative cars feel even more aligned with Armani's vision of grounded opulence.
Perfectly Italian cars for the perfectly Italian fashion house.
