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Covid fatigue is real, but policymakers and policy influencers need to wake up to something important: Post-pandemic polarization threatens to lock our memories into attractive, untrue conclusions that will leave us unprotected next time.

When Covid-19 first arrived, there was little historical experience to guide response. After watching catastrophic results and stress on the health care systems in China, Italy, and Iran, American states rapidly invoked many measures simultaneously to combat a virus with proven destructive power: masks, social distancing, and school and business closures. They turned to the 1918 flu pandemic to understand the importance of rapid and society-wide response.

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High prices left both 500e models dead on arrival in Australia’s market.

Fiat sales fell 30 percent during the first half of 2026 across Australia.

Only Fiat’s van business remains as speculation over a local exit grows.

Fiat has stopped importing the only two new models it sells in Australia, the Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e, as it struggles to fend off a sea of more affordable Chinese arrivals. The move leaves the company in a precarious spot and has fueled speculation that it’s inching toward exiting the market entirely as sales crumble.

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Demand for the two 500e models has never been strong, largely because they have been so expensive. When first launched, the regular 500e started at AU$52,500 ($36,800), while t he Abarth model was initially priced from AU$58,990 ($41,300), price tags generally only reserved for mid-size SUVs, including electric SUVs.

Read: Dealers Can’t Move The 500e At $15,000 Off. Fiat’s Response Is A $5,200 Price Hike

Fiat eventually made steep price cuts to both cars, more than AU$20,000 (US$14,000) in some cases, but that did little to stir demand. Sources familiar with the matter told Drive that Fiat’s five remaining passenger car dealers have gone without new factory 500e allocations for some time. The company also runs 14 Fiat Professional van showrooms.

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Earlier this week, Stellantis confirmed it will stop importing the 500e models, the only two passenger cars it still brought into the country. The petrol-powered Fiat 500 and Abarth 695 are already gone, with only leftover stock remaining, though the Scudo and Ducato vans are staying, at least for now.

Sales Collapse

Brad Anderson/Carscoops

Car Sales reports that Fiat volume has dropped 30 percent year-to-date, with just 144 vehicles moved locally this year. Only 13 of those came in June. Ferrari managed 16 and Lamborghini 18, which means two brands that trade in six-figure exotics each outsold Fiat, by 23 and 38 percent respectively over the same month. Stellantis says it remains committed to Australia, but with so little volume, it may become hard to justify the investment needed to keep the brand around.

“As part of Stellantis Australia’s ongoing portfolio and product planning process, the availability of specific models can vary over time as we assess market demand and future product opportunities,” Stellantis said. “We remain focused on ensuring the vehicles we bring to Australia meet customers’ expectations. “

“Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e stock in Australia has now largely been sold through and, at this stage, we are not planning additional orders while we evaluate future product opportunities for the local market. We continue to support our Fiat and Abarth customers and dealer network and look forward to sharing more information about Fiat’s and Abarth’s future plans in Australia at the appropriate time,” the company added.

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A Sign Of Things To Come?

Earlier this month, fellow Stellantis brand Peugeot revealed it was parting ways with Australian distributor Inchcape , meaning Stellantis itself will control the firm’s local operations. Last week, local media was informed that Peugeot was completely retiring its fleet of press vehicles, noting it would no longer be offering loans to the media. Its sales have also fallen drastically as the French brand has failed to compete with new arrivals, mostly from China. Its sales are down more than 32 percent year-to-date.

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Brad Anderson/Carscoops

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QUICK FACTS

Where is it? Lake Skadar, Montenegro and Albania [ 42.201087364, 19.303135741 ]

What's in the photo? A giant, milky-green swirl on the lake's surface

Who took the photo? An unnamed astronaut on board the International Space Station

When was it taken? Feb. 21, 2020

This eye-catching astronaut photo shows a cloud of sediment swirling into a giant, milky-green vortex in one of Europe's largest lakes.

Lake Skadar (also known as Shkodër, Shkodra or Scutari) is the largest lake in Southern Europe, with a surface area between 140 and 200 square miles (360 to 520 square kilometers), depending on the time of year. It is situated on the border between Montenegro, which surrounds the western half of the lake (left in the photo), and Albania, which encircles the lake's eastern shore. The body of water is split 65% to 35% in Montenegro's favor.

The lake's main water source is the Morača River, to the northwest, and its biggest outlets are the Bojana and Drin rivers, which start at the lake's easternmost point and eventually drain into the Adriatic Sea, which is partially visible in the bottom left of the photo. Skadar's southern shore is also hugged by a lofty mountain range, known as the Dinaric Alps.

During late winter and early spring, the lake's water level rises, and it usually fills with a milky-green substance that often gets whipped into a vortex by a combination of wind-driven surface currents and the natural flow of water between the lake's major inlets and outlets.

The swirling material looks very similar to blooming algae , but it is actually made of sediments — predominantly limestone and dolomite — that wash into the lake from the Dinaric Alps and other nearby mountains as the snow melts.

Lake Skadar formed millions of years ago and was once connected to the Adriatic Sea (visible in the background of this image). (Image credit: Wikimedia) Skadar is a karst lake, meaning it was once a cave system that flooded and eventually collapsed, likely because the caves were made from the same easily erodible rocks that now swirl on the lake's surface, according to NASA's Earth Observatory . The lake is a "cryptodepression" because most of the lake's floor is below sea level.

The lake originally formed during the Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago to the present), according to the International Lake Environment Committee Foundation's World Lake Database . It is home to several small islands, some of which can be seen in the photo along the lake's southern shore. These include Beška, which is home to a pair of 600-year-old churches, and Grmožur, where the remains of a 19th-century fortification loom above the lake's surface.

The shipwreck of a paddle steamboat, named Skanderbeg , lies along the lake's western shore. Local partisans sank the vessel in 1942 after Italian soldiers commandeered it during the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in World War II. When the lake's water levels are at their lowest, part of the shipwreck rises above the surface.

Skadar Lake is a biodiversity hotspot and has protected wildlife status on both sides of the Montenegro-Albania border. It is a particularly important site for birds; more than 280 avian species call it home, including the Dalmatian pelican ( Pelecanus crispus ) and several endemic species, according to BirdLife International .

The lake also hosts around 50 freshwater snail species ‪—‬ more than any other lake on Earth, according to a 2013 study .

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A 2024 satellite photo shows an unusually active bloom of toxic cyanobacteria swirling in the water of Nevada's Pyramid Lake.

Mystery swirls in Baltic Sea

This 2018 satellite photo shows an unknown substance swirling across the Gulf of Gdańsk in Poland. Scientists were shocked to later discover what it really was.

Milky plumes in giant 'soda lake'

A 2016 astronaut photo shows surprising plumes of milky material swirling in the waters of Turkey's Lake Van, the largest alkaline lake on Earth.

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The Trump administration is centralizing and politicizing science grantmaking to an unprecedented degree. Most recently, the Office of Management and Budget proposed a rule to require political appointees to review grants and ensure the projects they fund “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities” and do not “facilitate” any “initiatives that … promote anti-American values.” If the new rule takes effect, the government will be able to terminate a grant if it no longer “effectuate[s] … the national interest” — in other words, if it’s no longer to the president’s liking.

The comment period on the proposed rule ended July 13. Before it can take effect, the OMB must still finalize the rule , which the agency aims to do by the end of August .

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