Shrunken Fiat Panda set to be Italy’s people’s car

A future baby Fiat Panda – dubbed Pandina in its home market of Italy – has been previewed by a trio of student design studies. A public vote at this year’s Milan Design Week is set to influence which one feeds into Fiat’s eventual production version, with Fiat CEO Olivier Francois saying he wants to make the model’s future “democratic”, encouraging feedback to determine the project’s outcome.

The exhibition, titled ‘Ciao Futuro!’ presented three automotive ideas, each said to demonstrate Fiat’s “vision for the future of urban mobility as a socially relevant, culturally driven and design-led experience.”

The Pandina will be simple and cost-effective to its core. Francois commented: “A car should be useful before it is sophisticated. Customers aren’t asking for bigger displays, they are asking for more things that just make sense. If you want that, Fiat is answering those questions.”

Fiat Ippo: a future city car with ‘rhythm’

The first visual concept is titled ‘Ippo’: a small, upright four-seater, with two doors, a raised ride height and tall roofline. There are plenty of similarities with the existing Pandina – a car removed from sale in the UK in 2024, but that continues to make up 7.5 per cent of the entire Italian car market – including the extensive cladding along the sills, bumpers and wheelarches.

Ippo is apparently “not just a means of transport” but something that “fosters interactions and adapts to the rhythms of small towns”. The project proposes “a more human, shared vision of mobility, where the car becomes an extension of public space, strengthening the sense of community.”

Fiat Lumo su Misura: the versatile Italian MINI? 

Next is ‘Lumo su Misura’, which in its basic form looks similar to a narrower, more upright modern MINI, with a squared-off shape and round headlights. However, the concept is based on the themes of flexibility and personalisation; the vehicle can “evolve with its user, addressing the common compromise young drivers face between affordability and self expression”.

The car can, in theory, transform from city car to campervan, off-road vehicle to practical MPV. The students said that “instead of being a single, fixed product, it offers a range of possibilities within one platform”. Parts can be purchased or rented, either new or refurbished.

Fiat Fizz: a mobile meeting place

The final proposition is perhaps the most radical, and furthest from a traditional city car or supermini. Titled ‘Fizz’, it plays on the vehicle’s use when stationary, rather than on the move. The student responsible started with the question: ‘How can a small city car create a temporary social space when it stops?’

“The role of the car is changing,” they said. “It is no longer about just moving through the city, but also about how we experience the time between one destination and another. Innovation is not about moving faster, but about stopping better.”

Fizz therefore looks more like one of those pedal-powered beer bikes you might find cruising around holiday destinations filled with tipsy tourists on a boozy night out. Its wheels are pushed out into the corners, while above the beltline sits an upright glasshouse and tall, flat roof. The interior comprises front and rear bench seats; entry and exit should be easy due to the lack of a B-pillar, and the doors open at either end.

Inspiration for the next Pandina

Each car is simply a concept for now, but CEO Francois insists that one or more could feasibly inspire the next-generation Pandina. “Let’s make it democratic,” he said during the project’s press conference. “Vote, so we can have this feedback – maybe [the final design] is a mix of all three. We continue learning, always.”

Meanwhile, speaking exclusively with Auto Express, head of Fiat Europe Gaetano Thorel said the current Fiat Panda, or Pandina, has been updated to comply with impending Euro 7 emissions standards, giving it a stay of execution in Italy until “at least 2029.”

He reiterated how important Fiat’s home market was for the now-16-year-old city car, referencing its ability to transcend social barriers both as a “second car or third car for a well-educated and healthy family” as well as for “single-car, low-income families who use Pandina to do everything.”

It’s for this reason that the future Pandina successor is likely to follow Fiat’s current multi-fuel strategy and be offered both with a small, mild-hybrid petrol engine, as well as – for the first time – a full-EV powertrain.

“[Customers] need the Pandina to be small enough to move in the city, big enough to bring the family on vacation – from Milan maybe to Naples,” Thorel told us. “What is the right energy for this customer? It cannot be electric. If I need to go from Milan to Naples, however efficient my battery is, how many times will I need to stop? 

“But for the other customer, this car can be electric. If my second house is one hour from my city, I can drive electric, no problem. That’s why it’s so important to be multi-energy,” the Fiat boss said.

Asked if this shift to electric could open the Pandina back up to markets outside of southern Europe, Thorel said: “Technically, yes. The question is: what is the volume potential? The A-segment in Europe is pretty limited. So yes, it would open for sure, but I don’t know, honestly, how much.”

He again emphasised how important his Italian customers would be in shaping the next Pandina: “Whatever the next compact car, I have one duty,” he said. “That is to give the right solution to the ‘Popolo di Pandina’ – the Pandina customer base. Because in reality, in Italy, it’s a real population. We’re talking millions; on average, every year we sell 100,000 Pandinas. If I don’t give them the next generation that fulfils what they need, one that moves them into the future, I don’t think we will honour our role.

“That’s why the three design projects are an interesting discussion. The projects are made by 22, 23-year-old designers. So they are the future. They interpret the next generation.”

Regardless of form, it’s likely any future Pandina would move from its ancient Fiat underpinnings to sit on one of parent company Stellantis’s cutting-edge platforms. However, in a previous conversation with Auto Express, Francois said the Smart Car platform, which underpins the larger Fiat Grande Panda, Citroen C3 and Vauxhall Frontera “can’t go any smaller than four metres”. The future Pandina isn’t expected to exceed 3.6 metres long.

There is a chance Fiat may choose to boost economies of scale by placing the Pandina on the 500 platform, which was recently adapted to support both EV and hybrid technology. If this does transpire, we can expect to see the same 1.2-litre non-turbo three-cylinder petrol engine mated to a mild-hybrid motor producing around 70bhp. Either way, the new Pandina isn’t going to be setting any land-speed records.

With economies of scale, that should help keep costs down, allowing the new Pandina to continue to serve customers at the lower-end of Europe’s new-car market – even if the “psychological threshold” of 10,000 Euros will be harder than ever to achieve as we move into 2029 and beyond.

In order to make the sums work, the Pandina will be designed to be simple and cost-effective at its very core. Francois told us: “It will have the same philosophy as the Centoventi [concept from 2019]. It needs to be simple, innovative. What can we leave out? What do we actually need inside? This will help keep the costs down.”

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