The Fiat Grande Panda harks back to the splendid 80s heyday of the hatchback

The small car sector is currently buoyant, even if electrification has helped drive prices upwards. Even so, margins remain slim and the ever-present threat of more affordable rivals from China arriving to undercut the more established names. That’s why consolidation has been the way forward for legacy brands for the past decade, bundling together collective development, design, manufacturing and marketing know-how so as to leverage the economies of scale.

Along the way, these newly conjoined brands have had to dig deep into their psyche and find the things that really made them stand out. The Stellantis portfolio is one of the broadest – Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, RAM and Vauxhall – and in amongst that accumulated automotive know-how you have some true classics upon which to draw.

Fiat revealed its Grande Panda back in 2024 and we first drove it early the following year. It arrived hot on the heels of a newly revitalised longstanding rival, Renault, who have found favour and sales success with their electrified re-boots of the Renault 4, Renault 5 and Twingo.

With the Grande Panda and forthcoming coupé variant – currently understood to be called the Grizzly – as well the evergreen 500, along with the 600 and Topolino, Fiat’s small car portfolio is more than ready to go head-to-head with Renault. The brand is the biggest seller in the Stellantis portfolio, helped along by its commercial vehicle arm, which specialises in motorhomes and ambulances, amongst other things. It’s also unafraid to make U-turns – the 500 and 600 will both get manual petrol variants as part of a drive to recapture a lost sector of the market in the wake of stalled electrification plans.

Visually, Fiat certainly seems to be keeping pace, revealing a relatively compact city car with strong shades of the Giugiaro-designed original. That’s not the whole story, however, because all there are pointed call-backs to the neatly folded metal of the tiny first-generation car (manufactured nearly a quarter of a century from 1980 onwards), the Stellantis accounting system dictates that it shares a platform with many siblings.

Under the skin is the ‘Smart Car Platform’, underpinnings that you’ll also find in the Citroën C3 Aircross and Vauxhall/Opel Frontera. Keeping it in the family, it’s closely related to the e-CMP (Common Modular Platform) used in cars like the Vauxhall Mokka-e, Alfa Romeo Junior, Jeep Avenger, Fiat and Abarth 600e and many more. It explains the proportional relationship between all these cars, despite the different branding, surfacing, brightwork and trim.

To be fair, Fiat probably has the most to work with it comes to shaping endearing designs out of awkward shapes. The Jeep is a little too small, the Citroën a little too staid and the Alfa too upright to get the most from the proportions. Fiat, however, has always made a virtue of getting the most space out of a shape, extolling the joys of boxy forms. The stance works well, with angular lights neatly delineating the corners and a playful sense of detailing that taps in the company’s current ‘La Dolce Vita’ sloganeering.

That does mean that Italian clichés are leaned on a little too heavily, think ice cream hues and beach umbrellas, with a scattering of Easter Eggs around the cabin of the car itself. The latter is a regrettable trend, much favoured by Stellantis, wherein little design details are playfully ‘hidden’ to bolster brand identity. Bold flat colours and strong graphics are now the mandated Fiat house style, seen everywhere from interior trim to advertising.

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Fiat ladles on the Italian charm

Fiat ladles on the Italian charm

The Panda is now finally available in the UK. So how does this modern-day version of the original ‘pocket utility vehicle’ stack up? Rather nicely, is the answer. We explored both EV and hybrid versions, and while the latter didn’t have the characteristic EV zip, it benefitted from being a whole lot lighter. At 4m long and 1.6m tall, the Grande Panda has more in common with a small SUV than a true hatchback.

The BEV has a projected range of 199 miles but that’s a little optimistic, especially given the small 44kWh battery used on this platform. It’s not a long-distance runner, more of a specialist in short hops, like the original, and this is where the combination of retro looks, space and simplicity really excel.

As well as that upright exterior and strong graphical application, the interior is rather charming. Physical controls have been prioritised, and the combination of reinforced plastics, translucent panels and bamboo-derived fibre wrap on the glovebox come together create a pleasing and tactile place. Attention to detail is especially strong, from the dedicated Panda typography on the digital dash through to the oddment tray below the glovebox, just the place for parking tickets, loose change and disposable chopsticks.

Squint and you can even detect a hint of Memphis in the pop colours, geometric forms and wilful asymmetry. Of course, this is all a clever concoction, with everything down to the naming conventions carefully chosen to evoke an innate ‘Italian-ness’. Even the body colours – Limone yellow, Lago blue, Passione red – play the game. The car comes in three trim levels, Pop, Icon and La Prima - enthusiasts will relish the 16” old school white steel wheels on the Pop.

The Panda even uses a regular key that you have insert and turn to start the car, a total throwback (and not in an unpleasant way). With a manual petrol on the way – and those hard-wearing steel wheels and black plastics – it’s like being transported back to the 1980s heyday of the hatchback. It’s taken a while, but Fiat’s version of Panda diplomacy should find favour with markets around Europe, undercutting long-established rivals like the Renault 5 without losing any of the charm.

Bamboo trim and Easter Eggs aside, the Panda is taking Fiat back to its roots and building a small car for everyone. Just like the originals – and the two generations that followed before the Grande Panda arrived – it’ll look great once it has accumulated a few scuffs and dents and the rich patina of urban life inside and out.

Fiat Grande Panda Hybrid, from £18,995, Fiat Grande Panda Electric, from £20,995, Fiat.co.uk, @Fiat_uk