Fiat considers electrifying the Panda
Fiat may bring back the Panda as a model family as part of its plan to become an all-electric car brand by 2030. According to a British media report, a subcompact, an SUV and possibly other variants are planned for the next five years, which will also be offered with electric drive.
The models are to be based on the Centoventi concept, which Fiat had unveiled in 2019 as a preview of a low-cost electric vehicle. In 2020, it was revealed that Fiat plans to put the Centoventi Concept into production.
As Olivier Francois, CEO of the Fiat brand, tells Auto Express, the Italian companys’ future electric model range will be based on two pillars: A model family based around the electric 500, which will be placed as a “style-oriented” offering. The second model family based on the Centoventi, on the other hand, is to forgo curved styling with a consistent focus on practicality.
The Fiat boss did not confirm details of the planned models. According to Auto Express, the models are to be “reasonably priced with a similarly ruthless focus on production costs and the same robust character as the original Panda from the 1980s”. So far, a B-segment “supermini” and a small SUV are planned, with more models on the way.
The Stellantis manager became a little more talkative when it came to possible model names. “What is certain is that I now have the option of inventing a new name or going back to a storied name of the past,” Francois said. “I’m leaning more towards the second because we really have these favourable templates, with a lot of satisfied customers.” The Fiat boss left open whether a practical electric vehicle model in the B-segment could become a new Punto or a “Super Panda”.
According to Auto Express, the new models are to come onto the market as early as 2023 and will be built at the Tichy plant in Poland. Therefore, the Fiat models will “probably use the same Stellantis CMP architecture” as a Peugeot e-208 – and not be based on the upcoming small car platform STLA Small.
Fiat wants to become an all-electric brand by 2030 at the latest. There is no exact year yet, the target is a changeover between 2025 and 2030 – at the EV Day by Stellantis in the summer, it was still said that Fiat would go electric as soon as the electric cars were cheaper across the board than internal combustion engines – because by then, at the latest, there would no longer be a rational reason to buy a petrol car.
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