Vellum Venom Vignette: Haute Couture Meets Electric Propulsion

It was only a matter of time. Only the endless thrust of an electric motor has the same gravitational pull as a house of fashion when they see the money they can make by licensing their wares to an automaker. But this was never in the cards for EV-specific brands, as their startup business culture neither has the interest nor the money to bring in a third party to help them style their vehicles.

Perhaps they should, as the idea of a Goyard-themed Lucid Air and a Rivian R1T Arc’teryx Edition has some merit. Tesla is certainly mainstream enough for their own Gucci edition. But no, it took two Italian companies to make it happen.

Meet the appropriately-named 2025 Fiat 500e Giorgio Armani Collector’s Edition. The electrified compact hatchback comes in two colors. The first is Green. The second you may have never heard of before: Greige. The latter is a mix of grey and beige and appears to be a signature of the Armani brand, likely to have instant appeal to Armani customers. Exterior colors seem to be matched with interior materials to provide an Armani-like monochrome experience, too. Oh-la-la, très chic!

Probably the coolest part of the interior is what Fiat calls a “laser-cut dashboard insert that offers an exquisite woodgrain appearance and delivers the soft touch of luxurious fabric.” Seat covers have a unique chevron pattern, with Giorgio Armani logos on the front headrests. The prestige only goes so far, though, apparently running out before the rear seats could be finished in the same pattern. But that suggests some sensitivity to price, and the Armani 500 may come in closer to a base 500e ($30-40,000 estimated) and not the astronomically high price tag of the star-crossed, Rolls Royce inspired, Mini Cooper Goodwood. (Pricing for the 500e and its Armani variant has yet to be released from the manufacturer.)

That stupidly-posh Mini retailed for a little over $51,000 in 2012, and sat on BMW/MINI dealership lots for months with nary a serious buyer in sight. Fiat was wise to keep things subtle, as multiple Armani signatures dot the dashboard, interior door panels, and rear window round out this special trim package.

The monochromatic theme continues outside, as the Armani 500’s color-matched paint and fabrics truly “shine” on a body with no brightwork aside from the mandatory lighting pods. It’d give off a serious 1980s vibe if not for the subtle color palette and a set of 17-inch wheels that are almost as radical (but not nearly as adorable) as the Ronal Bear. The wheels sport an understated anodized finish, and are cast with the “G” and “A” of Giorgio Armani’s iconic logo. We have seen everyone from Bill Blass (1991-92 Lincoln Mark VII) to Hermes (Bugatti) put their logo on a wheel’s center cap, but have the spokes of a wheel ever morphed into a branding statement this extensively?

Let’s not dance around the heart of this story, as these anodized wheels are an absolute party piece for the gathering of parts that is the Fiat 500e Giorgio Armani Collector’s Edition. They are the automotive equivalent Beyoncé performing an hour-long set at your party for (a reported) 24 million bucks. This is a brilliant integration of the “G/A” logo on a functional product that must stop, steer, and accelerate an electric Fiat 500 from 0-30 in less than 3 seconds from a modest 42-KWh battery.

Is the Fiat 500e Giorgio Armani Collector’s Edition a good vehicle for large swaths of North America? Probably not, as it’s intended to be a city car where small battery packs get the job done, not for open roads where EV motors can never power down and save juice in bumper-to-bumper traffic. But with its 149-mile range, the Fiat 500e likely works fine in urban and suburban areas.

With the Giorgio Armani touches sprinkled in, you can expect this 500e to do well in areas with high-rise condos and mixed-use developments in all of the nicest zip codes. As I once said in a Vellum Venom on the 2012 Fiat 500 Gucci edition, unique bits from a posh designer certainly “make you feel a little more special.”

I meant those words both then and now because this is precisely why designer editions of regular vehicles exist in the first place. They work, at least in “small” doses.