FIAT GRANDE PANDA

Supermini-sized 'utility' EV offers retro cheeriness at a very low price

- MARK TISSHAW

Small Fiats tend to live long lives. The 500 was finally taken off sale in 2024 after 17 years, a new set of legislative hurdles proving insurmountable. The Panda is already 13 years old and has another five years to go before a replacement comes. And the Punto was also 13 when it was retired in 2018. As it disappeared without anyone really noticing, that no replacement was forthcoming slipped under the radar too.

Now a replacement of sorts has arrived: the Grande Panda. Given that the Panda was taken off sale in the UK last year (it survives in most other markets in Europe), you would be forgiven for thinking the Grande Panda replaces that, but no, it's a new model, filling the space in the Fiat range for a 4m-long (so supermini-sized) car that has existed since the Punto's demise.

Perhaps surprisingly, Fiat is the biggest of the 13 Stellantis brands globally, which is why it chose to create a 'utility vehicle' rather than a supermini (think a slightly raised hatchback; a Dacia Sandero Stepway to a standard Sandero): because it will appeal to and can be built in the global markets in which the brand has a large presence (Brazil, Turkey and Algeria, for example).

But the Grande Panda isn't one of those 'global cars' that's built to appeal to everyone but ends up appealing to nobody, with all the joy sucked out of it. Instead, it's a car packed full of cheerfulness and clever touches that has a habit of making you smile outside and in.