2013 Modded Fiat 500 Abarth on 2040-cars

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Fiat Grande Panda is a compact hatchback with a serious attitude

Earlier in 2024, Fiat announced plans to turn the Panda — which has been one of its smallest and most affordable models since 1980 — into a full range of models. The first member of the extended Panda family is a compact, crossover-like hatchback called Grande Panda. Stretching to 157 inches long, the Grande Panda stands out with angular styling and a futuristic-looking front end. There's a tiny bit of retro hiding in that 22nd-century-like stare: The Fiat logo is offset to the side, like it was on the pre-facelift version of the original Panda. The black plastic cladding, the skid plate-like trim on the front bumper, and the roof rails give the hatchback a rugged look, while the rear lights create another visual link to the first-generation Panda. What's certain is that the Grande Panda looks like nothing else on European roads. We haven't seen the interior yet. We're told it seats five, and we hope the cabin will be at least as distinctive as the exterior. Technical specifications haven't been released. Fiat noted that it built the Grande Panda on a multi-energy platform to offer both hybrid and electric variants. Four-wheel-drive is a big part of the Panda's heritage, but we're guessing the Grande will settle for front-wheel-drive. Fiat will release more details about the Grande Panda in the coming months. The model will be sold in Europe, in the Middle East, and in Africa, but nothing suggests we'll see it in the United States. As for the current, third-generation Panda, it's sticking around for the time being. It was renamed Pandina in February 2024, and it's tentatively scheduled to remain on the market through 2027. It's old by car standards — it made its debut at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show. It remains one of the cheapest new cars in Europe and one of Fiat's best-sellers, however.

Fiat's Ecobasic concept shows what the city car of the future looked like in 1999

In the late 1990s, Fiat set out to prove cheap and eco-friendly weren't mutually exclusive. It argued a car could be both with an innovative, opinion-cleaving concept named Ecobasic built to preview the econobox of the future. Fiat quietly presented the Ecobasic at the 1999 edition of the Bologna auto show, which was still a big deal 21 years ago, and it displayed it again at the following year's Geneva show. Its high-top Converse-shaped silhouette turned heads everywhere it went, and that was only the beginning. Looking closer revealed its front end received a transparent panel that let users add oil, coolant, wiper fluid, or give the battery a jump. Audi adopted a similar solution for its A2. It had one door on the driver's side, two on the passenger's side, and a transparent hatch underlined by a pair of horizontal lights. It stretched 137.7 inches long, 67.3 inches wide, and 57.8 inches tall, dimensions that made it about two inches taller, three inches wider, and an inch lower than a modern-day 500. Keeping manufacturing costs in check was a priority, so Fiat used plastic body panels dyed with color during the production process and mounted them to a steel structure, a configuration not unlike the Smart ForTwo's. They were designed to be recycled at the end of the car's life cycle. Inside, the passengers were treated to a marvelous exercise in simple, back-to-the-basics design. The driver sat in front of a four-spoke steering wheel, while a speedometer and a fuel gauge were integrated into a pod that sprouted from the center of the dashboard. The automatic transmission's gear selector, a handful of buttons, and the HVAC controls were aligned below it. The domed, bolted-down hood covered a 1.2-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel developed specifically for the Ecobasic. It showcased Fiat's Multijet common-rail technology, which promised improve fuel economy without compromising power. On paper, that's exactly what it achieved. The four developed 61 horsepower at 3,500 rpm and 118 pound-feet of torque at 1,800 rpm, which were reasonably respectable figures for an Italian city car made in the late 1990s, and it returned nearly 80 miles per gallon. Fiat quoted a 13-second 0-62-mph time. The company apparently did not blush when it hinted it could build 200,000 units of the Ecobasic annually and sell each one for approximately 5,000 euros, a price which would have made it one of the cheapest new cars sold in Europe.

Fiat opens doors at Abarth factory on Google Street View

Google Street View has emerged as a great tool for checking out locations along your driving route, and even scoping out places you don't have a chance to go yourself. And that includes some great automotive installations. The online tool has taken us inside museums, race tracks and factories around the world, but while it has not to date allowed us virtual access to a European automotive factory, Fiat is out to correct that wrong by letting the Street View team inside Officine Abarth.
The new Abarth Virtual Tour allows online visitors to see the complex in Turin where it makes its hot hatches, including the lifts where the mechanics go to work, the paint spray booth, and a variety of technical workshops, as well as a display of historic Abarth models, a 360-degree view inside and out of the extreme Abarth 695 Biposto and even inside a reproduction of founder Karl Abarth's office. Scope it out for a visit inside Italy's premiere hot hatch studio.