Next Fiat Panda gets larger, gains full-electric option

TURIN -- Fiat next summer will launch the fourth generation of its entry model, the Panda, as a larger small car with a choice of full-electric or internal-combustion drivetrains. It will not be an immediate replacement for the current Panda, a minicar that has been in production since 2012.

Fiat is expected to call the model the New Panda, a similar naming strategy to the Fiat 500, which is called 500 for the combustion-engine minicar, while the slight larger electric variant is called the New 500.

Stellantis Italy confirmed to Automotive News Europe that the company this summer registered the name Pandina (small Panda), but it will be used just on special series of the current model.

Production of the third-generation Panda will continue at least until 2026, but potentially longer if the Euro 7 emission regulations are postponed, Stellantis has said.

The Panda is Fiat’s best-selling model in Europe, where it leads the minicar segment. Fiat sold 103,928 Pandas through October, a decline of 1.6 percent, according to Dataforce. The 500, a sister model to the Panda that shares the same Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Mini architecture, was in second place, with sales up 6.6 percent to 94,310, ahead of the Toyota Aygo X at 70,290 units.

The Panda is now built in the Pomigliano d’Arco plant, near Naples, Southern Italy. The next generation is set to be built at Stellantis’ factory in Kragujevac, Serbia; although Stellantis has not officially announced it. President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia last week said he expects Stellantis to produce a battery-electric Fiat Panda in Kragujevac. The Serbian government owns 33 percent of the Kragujevac factory, with Stellantis holding the rest.

In April 2022, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Vucic signed a 190-million-euro ($200 million) deal to invest in EV production in at the factory.

The New Panda will be underpinned by Stellantis’  Smart Car architecture, a design-to-cost platform that will slot below the new STLA Small architecture that due to debut in 2026.

Stellantis plans to base seven models on the Smart Car platform, as it prepares to compete against an expected “flood” of cheap Chinese electric cars into Europe.

The Citroen New e-C3 will be the first model in Europe to use the Smart Car architecture, which was initially developed in India in cooperation with Tata Consulting. Stellantis has taken over development duties for European models on the platform.

The New Panda is expected to have similar dimensions to the New e-C3, which is 4010 mm long, 1760 mm wide and 1570 mm high.

The current Panda, as a minicar, is more than 300 mm shorter (3686 mm) and more than 100 mm narrower (1643 mm), while it has a similar height at 1551 mm.

The Citroen New e-C3 will debut next spring starting at 23,300 euros in Germany and France for the electric variant with a 44-kilowatt-hour lithium-iron-phosphate battery and a range of 320 km (198 miles). An urban-focused version with a 200 km range will be launched in early 2025 at a price of 19,990 euros.

Citroen has not announced yet pricing for the New C3 with internal combustion engines.

Fiat is expected to price the new electric Panda close to the New e-C3. Fiat’s cheapest electric model is the New 500, which starts at 28,950 euros in Italy. The gasoline Panda starts at 15,500 euros in Italy.