Fiat’s second takeover is the Panda and it’s coming to Europe

With 1.35 million cars sold, Fiat was the most popular brand of the Stellantis group in 2023. The company experienced the greatest growth in South America: from 496,700 to 542,000 units. The most popular Fiat in that part of the world is a pickup called the Strada. Fiat wants to bring the Strada’s success to Europe. The Fiat Panda-inspired pick-up should take care of that.

Today Fiat shows a series of study models based on the new Panda. The new Panda has yet to be seen, which should arrive in July this year. In the next three years, a new variant of the Panda must appear every year. Fiat is not saying in what order they will come, only that there will be petrol versions, hybrids and fully electric versions.

Pickup should be fun and useful

These concepts are about ‘performance’. So cars must be used, but also provide entertainment. For example, this Panda pickup should perform like a light commercial vehicle and have the comfort of an SUV. You can have fun by going out and taking and going on adventures.

Also a hatchback, though…

The base Panda is getting a bit bigger and Fiat is calling the car ‘Mega-Panda’. We are the only research models allowed to see the inside. The picture from the side doesn’t reveal much, but you can see more of the interior in the video below.

Of course, this Panda is full of sustainable materials. In this case bamboo and recycled plastic were used. With the city car, Fiat wants to ‘remove several barriers to sustainable mobility’. For example, Fiat wants to make plugging and unplugging the charging cable in EVs easier by using a cable that rolls up on itself, just like the cord on your vacuum cleaner.

Panda of more games of the future

For those interested in the Brazilian Abarth Fastback, there is good news: there should also be a Panda with a sliding roofline. You can see the Fastback as the sportiest Panda of the bunch. Let’s hope that the production model has smaller wheels and is therefore a little closer to the ground. Couldn’t they straighten the front wheel of the picture?

SUV should not be missed

We’ve just talked about ‘Mega-Panda’, now we’re moving on to ‘Giga-Panda’. The fourth concept is an SUV. Indeed, except for the roof, it is like two peas in a pod with the Fastback. Like other study models, it has Santa Fe-like headlights. Fiat doesn’t confirm that the big Panda is coming to Europe, but you understand that this high entry point is attractive to our SUV continent.

Ride for the holidays

Finally, there is a house-on-wheels. According to Fiat, the base pays tribute to the ‘performance of Pandas in the 1980s’. We have to look carefully for the visual similarity, because the camper is not angular like the old hatchback. We also cannot remember that the Panda from that time had a winch on the front bumper.