Arnaud Belloni, the new CEO of Fiat, expressed the opinion that consumers are 'completely lost' due to the ratings issued by Euro NCAP, the European system responsible for assessing the safety of new vehicles. According to him, the cause of this problem lies in the constant changes to the evaluation criteria.
Belloni made this statement during an interview given to the British magazine Autocar, held at the Paris Motor Show. He has been leading Fiat, Abarth, and Lancia since September.
The executive pointed out that Euro NCAP changes its standards every two years, which can cause a vehicle that originally had five stars to subsequently have only three and then two. Belloni, who has 35 years of experience in the sector, added that few manufacturers demonstrate taking these evaluations seriously.
This year, Euro NCAP made the tests more rigorous, requiring, for example, the presence of physical buttons for crucial functions. It is important to note that the obtained ratings are valid for up to six years.
Fiat experienced this impact directly: the Punto model received five stars upon launch in 2005. However, when retested in 2017, twelve years later, it became the first car in Euro NCAP history to receive zero stars, mainly because it lacked emergency automatic braking. The Panda followed a similar path the following year.
In Brazil, a notable case involves Latin NCAP, which functions as the Latin American equivalent of the program. The Argo and Cronos models received three stars for adults and four for children in 2019. After a reassessment in 2021, under a stricter protocol, they were classified with zero stars.
These statements occur parallel to the development of a low-entry electric compact from Fiat, designed to meet the new category of cheap and small vehicles that the European Union is establishing. According to Autocar, to optimize costs, this new model may feature more basic safety systems and driving aids, which will likely impact its performance in tests. In this specific segment, price is expected to be the decisive factor for consumers.
When asked whether this implies accepting a lower rating, Belloni replied that the automotive industry has progressed faster than any other sector in the last thirty years, and that customers are aware of this evolution.