A fully electric Fiat 500 Spiaggina created by Garage Italia Customs has reached California after a US collector purchased the car. Before shipping it overseas, the company tested the conversion at the Vairano circuit. The car later appeared during Monterey Car Week, bringing an Italian reinterpretation of a classic Fiat 500 to Pebble Beach.
This electric Fiat 500 Spiaggina brings Italian beach-car style to California
Cream-colored paint covers the body, with red and blue stripes running lengthwise across the car. Garage Italia removed the doors and replaced them with the traditional rope barriers inspired by boats and classic beach cars. The company turned to Bonacina, a Milan-based specialist in woven furniture and materials, for the interior and selected finishes suited to prolonged exposure to sunlight and sea air.
Garage Italia also redesigned the dashboard and storage areas to make the cabin more practical, starting from an interior originally conceived for a car designed in the late 1950s.
The project takes inspiration from the open-top beach cars that became popular in European vacation destinations during the postwar economic boom. The Fiat 500 Jolly by Ghia remains one of the best-known examples of that formula. Garage Italia, however, does not attempt to create a faithful replica. Instead, it modifies the donor car’s structure and adds equipment needed for modern use and homologation.
An electric powertrain replaces the original two-cylinder engine. In the example described by the source, a three-phase asynchronous motor produces around 14 hp. An 11-kWh lithium iron phosphate battery provides a claimed WLTP range of 140 km, or about 87 miles, while a 2.75-kW charger requires roughly four hours for a full charge.
Regenerative braking and electric power steering further change the driving experience compared with the original 500, especially during the low-speed trips that suit this type of vehicle.
The digital instrument cluster uses a rabbit and a turtle to distinguish the normal and Eco driving modes, keeping the interface intentionally simple. The car offers seating for four and falls into Europe’s L7e heavy quadricycle category, allowing it to receive a license plate and operate on public roads once the conversion completes the required homologation process.
Garage Italia builds every Spiaggina to order and lets customers choose colors, fabrics, seats and accessories. The US-bound example therefore shows just one possible interpretation of the project rather than an official Fiat special edition or a new model produced directly by the Turin automaker.
