Chris Woodyard

USA TODAY

The CEO of the newly combined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is urging people not to buy his company's electric car.

It's a strange request from a world in which automotive CEOs are usually doing everything they can to hype their product lines, lure customers to showrooms and as they say in the trade, "put butts in seats."

But Reuters reported that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told a Washington, D.C., conference this week that he would prefer no one buy the $32,650 Fiat 500e, a beautifully done, practical electric car.

"I hope you don't buy it because every time I sell one it costs me $14,000," he is quoted as having said.

The 500e was created to meet mandates of states such as California that require automakers to offer zero-emissions cars for sale. For the moment, electric cars are the easiest way to meet the mandate -- and automakers approach the challenge with varying amounts of enthusiasm.

Stock market wonder Tesla Motors, for instance, sells only fully electric cars.

It's not the first time that plain-speaking Marchionne has decried the costs of electric cars. Previously, he pegged the losses at $10,000 a car. Lucky for him, electric cars are still generally a tough sell with consumers because of their limited range. The Fiat 500e goes 87 miles between charges.