The Fiat Grande Panda will spawn a hot Abarth spin-off – and it could see the performance brand return to combustion power.
The Italian firm has only two models in its European line-up: high-performance versions of the 500 city car and the larger 600 crossover – both exclusively electric.
However, both have struggled to find sales success. Despite expanding its potential reach with the launch of its first SUV, Abarth sold just 291 cars in the UK last year, down from 1027 in 2024 when the combustion-engined 595 was still available.
Fiat has also faced faltering demand for its EVs and reacted accordingly by reverse-engineering the platform of the new 500 – originally designed as an electric architecture – to accept a hybrid powertrain.
Meanwhile, the Grande Panda that arrived last year, using parent firm Stellantis’s cost-conscious Smart Car architecture, is offered with petrol, electric and hybrid powertrains, depending on the intended market.
Fiat is aiming to expand its line-up of Panda-derived models as part of plans to grow the brand, and that could present an opportunity for Abarth to break into a new market.
In the meantime, Autocar sources understand that the company is already working on a hot version of the Grande Panda, although it has yet to be fully signed off for production.
Asked about the prospect of a hot Grande Panda, Abarth and Fiat Europe boss Gaetano Thorel told Autocar: “Certainly we will leverage the Abarth legacy on something else. That’s all we can say right now.”
While it is understood that a design concept for the model has been developed, there are no firm details on what powertrain it would use. No model on the Smart Car platform – including the Vauxhall Frontera and Citroën C3 – has been offered with a performance variant. However, the architecture’s similarity to the STLA Small platform used for the likes of the next-generation Peugeot 208 – which itself will spawn a GTi model later this year – suggests that it could accept beefier powertrains.
Fiat has previously shown a concept for a Grande Panda 4×4, and although no details of that car’s powertrain have been given, Abarth bosses have suggested it features an “electrified innovative rear axle”. That could allow for a combustion engine driving the front wheels, with a small electric motor adding extra power when required, and it hints at the flexibility that could be employed to give an Abarth model suitable performance.
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