Fiat will launch all-new versions of the 500 and Panda as the foundations for a dramatically expanded range that will enable the Italian brand to break out from its recent history as a small car specialist and into larger vehicles over the next five years.
After spending much of the past decade in the doldrums as safety legislation gradually eroded its ageing model range in Europe, Fiat now has a whole host of new models in the works.
The company now has the architectures on which to build new models thanks to the scale offered by being part of the Stellantis group.
In addition, two larger C-segment models, previewed by 2024 concept cars, will join the all-new electric and hybrid versions of the 500 and Panda as well as the recent range additions of the 600 and the Grande Panda. All of these new models have been confirmed for production.
All-new Panda and 500
The Panda and 500 have done the bulk of the heavy lifting for Fiat over most of this century in Europe. But both cars have been allowed to grow old on ageing architectures.
Last year, time was finally called on the 500 Hybrid – as it became known, to differentiate it from the all-electric, mechanically unrelated 500e that was launched in 2020.
The current Panda, now nicknamed ‘Pandina’ by Fiat internally, lives on in some markets and will continue to do so until 2030 courtesy of ongoing updates that will keep it as fresh as possible.
However, replacements for both cars are confirmed and they will each be launched in mild-hybrid and all-electric forms on what is now known as Stellantis’s STLA City architecture.
This was originally launched on the 500e as an EV-only architecture but it is now being reworked to accommodate mild-hybrid drivetrains as well. The 500 Hybrid will return at the end of this year underpinned by this architecture and built alongside the electric model at Fiat’s Mirafiori plant in Italy.
