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Question of the Day: What is your preferred Chinese car brand?
The Fiat Panda Thread
- Thread starter FiestaST
- Start date
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Carwow review of the Grande Panda
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Fiat confirms pure-petrol, manual-gearbox Grande Panda for UK
Simplest version of small crossover could become one of the nation’s cheapest new cars
Fiat will bring the most affordable version of the new Grande Panda, fitted with a pure-petrol engine and a manual gearbox, to the UK.
The powertrain comprises a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine that sends 99bhp and 151lb ft of torque to the front wheels via a six-speed shifter.
Fiat UK’s managing director, Kris Cholmondeley, told Autocar that it will be priced at “an even lower, better price point” than the £18,995 hybrid.
In its native Italy, the pure-petrol Grande Panda is €2000 (£1700) cheaper than the hybrid, suggesting that it could arrive in the UK at around £17,000. That would make it one of the nation's cheapest new cars.
Fiat UK has yet to confirm when the model will go on sale but, given the hybrid and electric versions have been delayed until March, it's unlikely to land in showrooms until much later this year.
When it arrives, it will join a petrol manual version of the larger Fiat 600 crossover. This is due in the third quarter of the year, alongside the new petrol manual Fiat 500 Hybrid.
Cholmondeley said the addition of several more affordable, petrol manual models “screams everything about Fiat: value, style, the way it makes you feel”.
“We haven’t had enough petrol manuals in cars [in recent years],” he continued. “It’s a massive part of the segment, and that is definitely coming.”
www.autocar.co.uk
Simplest version of small crossover could become one of the nation’s cheapest new cars
Fiat will bring the most affordable version of the new Grande Panda, fitted with a pure-petrol engine and a manual gearbox, to the UK.
The powertrain comprises a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine that sends 99bhp and 151lb ft of torque to the front wheels via a six-speed shifter.
Fiat UK’s managing director, Kris Cholmondeley, told Autocar that it will be priced at “an even lower, better price point” than the £18,995 hybrid.
In its native Italy, the pure-petrol Grande Panda is €2000 (£1700) cheaper than the hybrid, suggesting that it could arrive in the UK at around £17,000. That would make it one of the nation's cheapest new cars.
Fiat UK has yet to confirm when the model will go on sale but, given the hybrid and electric versions have been delayed until March, it's unlikely to land in showrooms until much later this year.
When it arrives, it will join a petrol manual version of the larger Fiat 600 crossover. This is due in the third quarter of the year, alongside the new petrol manual Fiat 500 Hybrid.
Cholmondeley said the addition of several more affordable, petrol manual models “screams everything about Fiat: value, style, the way it makes you feel”.
“We haven’t had enough petrol manuals in cars [in recent years],” he continued. “It’s a massive part of the segment, and that is definitely coming.”
A pure-petrol Fiat Panda is coming to the UK – and it could be one of the cheapest new cars on sale! | Autocar
Simplest version of small crossover could become one of the nation’s cheapest new cars
www.autocar.co.uk
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
The 1980s 4x4 That Puts Modern Off Roaders to Shame - Panda 4x4 (1985) - Number 27
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Hot Panda inbound as Abarth plots return to petrol power
Poor sales of hot EVs have prompted Italian performance brand to rethink – and a new Panda is first in line
The Fiat Grande Panda will spawn a hot Abarth spin-off – and it could see the performance brand return to combustion power.
The Italian firm has only two models in its European line-up: high-performance versions of the 500 city car and the larger 600 crossover – both exclusively electric.
However, both have struggled to find sales success. Despite expanding its potential reach with the launch of its first SUV, Abarth sold just 291 cars in the UK last year, down from 1027 in 2024 when the combustion-engined 595 was still available.
Fiat has also faced faltering demand for its EVs and reacted accordingly by reverse-engineering the platform of the new 500 – originally designed as an electric architecture – to accept a hybrid powertrain.
Meanwhile, the Grande Panda that arrived last year, using parent firm Stellantis's cost-conscious Smart Car architecture, is offered with petrol, electric and hybrid powertrains, depending on the intended market.
Fiat is aiming to expand its line-up of Panda-derived models as part of plans to grow the brand, and that could present an opportunity for Abarth to break into a new market.
In the meantime, Autocar sources understand that the company is already working on a hot version of the Grande Panda, although it has yet to be fully signed off for production.
Asked about the prospect of a hot Grande Panda, Abarth and Fiat Europe boss Gaetano Thorel told Autocar: "Certainly we will leverage the Abarth legacy on something else. That's all we can say right now."
www.autocar.co.uk
Poor sales of hot EVs have prompted Italian performance brand to rethink – and a new Panda is first in line
The Fiat Grande Panda will spawn a hot Abarth spin-off – and it could see the performance brand return to combustion power.
The Italian firm has only two models in its European line-up: high-performance versions of the 500 city car and the larger 600 crossover – both exclusively electric.
However, both have struggled to find sales success. Despite expanding its potential reach with the launch of its first SUV, Abarth sold just 291 cars in the UK last year, down from 1027 in 2024 when the combustion-engined 595 was still available.
Fiat has also faced faltering demand for its EVs and reacted accordingly by reverse-engineering the platform of the new 500 – originally designed as an electric architecture – to accept a hybrid powertrain.
Meanwhile, the Grande Panda that arrived last year, using parent firm Stellantis's cost-conscious Smart Car architecture, is offered with petrol, electric and hybrid powertrains, depending on the intended market.
Fiat is aiming to expand its line-up of Panda-derived models as part of plans to grow the brand, and that could present an opportunity for Abarth to break into a new market.
In the meantime, Autocar sources understand that the company is already working on a hot version of the Grande Panda, although it has yet to be fully signed off for production.
Asked about the prospect of a hot Grande Panda, Abarth and Fiat Europe boss Gaetano Thorel told Autocar: "Certainly we will leverage the Abarth legacy on something else. That's all we can say right now."
100hp reborn? Hot Panda inbound as Abarth plots return to petrol power | Autocar
Poor sales of hot EVs have prompted Italian performance brand to rethink – and a new Panda is first in line
www.autocar.co.uk
FiestaST
Honorary Master
buildabong
Member
Howzit!!!
I will put it up here first.
I have a Panda 100hp for sale.
Not running.
Pretty rusty!
Very cheap!
I will put it up here first.
I have a Panda 100hp for sale.
Not running.
Pretty rusty!
Very cheap!
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Sam from Seen Through Glass bought the new Grande Panda as a daily runaround
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Auto Social UK review of the Grande Panda Hybrid
FiestaST
Honorary Master
CarGurus UK review of the Grande Panda Hybrid
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Tim Rodie Drives Stuff review of the Grande Panda
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Fiat Grande Panda review — I squeezed in a whole film crew
‘Lots of passers-by laughed when they saw me in a pistachio-coloured hybrid, but when I told them how much it was, they stopped laughing. And asked if they could buy one in another colour’
www.thetimes.com