Yesterday, pilot production of the Fiat Grande Panda cross-hatchback began in the Serbian city of Kragujevac, the launch ceremony was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the CEO Stellantis Corporation Carlos Tavares. Mass production of the Fiat Grande Panda will begin in October; cars assembled in Serbia will be sold not only in Europe, but also in some countries in Africa and the Middle East.
The Fiat Grande Panda was previewed in mid-June, and this week its production began and new details became known, in addition to photos of the interior being published. Grande Panda is not a replacement for the third generation Panda hatchback, which has been produced since 2011 in Pomigliano, Italy, but an addition to it. The old hatchback recently underwent another update and will be produced at least until 2027. At the same time, the Grande Panda became the founder of a new global family of budget Fiat cars, which also includes a pickup truck, a liftback, a crossover and an adventure camper.
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The Fiat Grande Panda is based on the budget global Smart Car platform, on which the previously debuted new Citroen C3 and Opel Frontera are also built, the European versions of which are produced in the Slovak city of Trnava. Citroen C3 is also assembled in India, Brazil and Indonesia. In turn, the Fiat Grande Panda was registered at the Stellantis plant in the Serbian city of Kragujevac, in the reconstruction of which the corporation invested 190 million euros, of which 48 million were given by the Serbian government. The plant itself will employ about 2,000 people, and taking into account related enterprises, about 7,000 jobs will be created.
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Fiat Grande Panda has an angular design in the style of the first-generation Panda hatchback, which entered the market back in 1980 and became one of the most popular and affordable Fiat models in the history of the brand. The pixel optics and pixel decor of the Grande Panda are inspired by the aesthetics of constructivism and the windows of the legendary Fiat plant in Lingotto (one of the districts of Turin), built in 1923, which has an oval test track with profiled turns on the roof — this track is reflected in the design of the Grande Panda interior. Let's add that the plant in Lingotto itself does not produce cars today: by the early 1980s, this plant was outdated, in 1982 it was closed and gradually turned into a kind of Fiat cultural center, and a garden was laid out on the famous roof.
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The overall length of the Grande Panda is 3990 mm, width — 1760 mm, height — 1570 mm, wheelbase — 2540 mm. With such modest dimensions, the cross-hatchback has a full 5-seater interior and a trunk with a volume of 361 liters, and the total capacity of storage niches and pockets in the cabin is 13 liters. In the electric version of the Grande Panda, the charging cable is integrated into the front and does not require a separate storage container. The interior of the Grande Panda is simple and neat, finished with environmentally friendly materials (including plant-based ones). The instrument screen is 10 inches, the multimedia screen is 10.25 inches.
The electric Grande Panda has the same power plant as its platform relatives: a single electric motor with a capacity of 113 hp. installed on the front axle, a full charge of a battery with a capacity of 44 kWh (of which 42 kWh is available to the consumer) is enough for approximately 320 km of range in the WLTP cycle. The characteristics of the petrol versions have not yet been disclosed, but looking at the Citroen C3 and Opel Frontera, we can assume that they will have a power of 101 or 136 hp.
A petrol Grande Panda in the basic configuration will cost about 19,000 euros, an electric one — just under 25,000 euros, but in Serbia the government will compensate up to 7,000 euros when purchasing an electric train, so that you can become the owner of a battery-powered Grande Panda for only 18,000 euros. Another thing is that the modest technical characteristics of this electric car will not suit every client, and the charging infrastructure in Serbia, as Aleksandar Vucic admits, is still poorly developed.