New electric Fiat Panda teased
Fiat has hinted at how a new all-electric Panda may look as it reveals its plans for the future.
The Italian brand made a wide-ranging announcement about its future including five concept vehicles that will make up a new Panda ‘family’.
These will include everything from a city car to a pick-up truck and cover electric, hybrid and combustion powered to provide options for buyers in markets around the world.
The first car of this new family will be an electric city car, due for release later in 2024. Dubbed ‘Mega-Panda’ by Fiat, this will be bigger than the previous Panda and draws design influences from the features of the famous Lingotto factory. The factory’s famous oval rooftop test track has inspired the dashboard, displays and seats, for instance.
In an effort to reduce costs and make its cars more sustainable, the Mega-Panda and its siblings put an emphasis on sustainable materials, including recycled plastics and bamboo-based fabrics.
Like the budget-focused Dacia Spring, the new Panda has a crossover-inspired high seating position and robust design, with Fiat saying it will offer roominess and versatility for family use.
There are no technical details yet but, we’d expect to hear more soon as Fiat plans to present the car to the public in July. Currently, Fiat offers the 500e and 600e electric city car and compact crossover.
Alongside the ‘Mega–Panda’, Fiat is planning a ‘Giga-Panda’. This will be a far larger family SUV, designed to bring versatility, space and safety to a market where Fiat doesn’t yet have a model. It’s expected to sit above the 600e in Fiat’s line-up.
There’s also a fastback in the works. Fiat says this sportier successor to the Tipo will primarily be aimed at markets in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, although it has hinted it could come to Europe as well.
Beside the regular cars, the new Panda platform will also form the basis of a pick-up truck and, most radically, a campervan.
Fiat’s Strada pick-up is a best seller in South America and the new platform will underpin its eventual successor. Fiat’s last pick-up – the Fullback – struggled in Europe but the brand insists the new ‘fun and functional’ vehicle will make an impact here as well as in other markets.
Finally, Fiat is planning a ‘do-it-all’ camper that will blend a versatile, compact interior with SUV-like comfort and ‘reconnect people to each other and nature’.
The new cars will all be built on a single global platform where they can be manufactured in different parts of the world on a local relevance basis. Fiat says that despite their differences in design and drive, all of the cars will share share a philosophy that functionality should never exist without fun.
