Happy Birthday, Panda: an appointment with style for the second video celebrating the 40 years of the Fiat car

• The celebrations for the Panda's anniversary continue with a second video interview, focused on the 40-year history of Panda design.
• Luca Napolitano, Head of EMEA Fiat, Lancia & Abarth Brands, investigates the topic with Klaus Busse, Head of FCA EMEA Design.
• The video is available via Fiat's social media channels, at this link.

The journey through Panda’s 40-year history continues. After stopping off in the “world of engines” with Maria Grazia Lisbona, the second video celebrates the Fiat icon and delves deeper into the design that has characterized the three generations of the Fiat city car. 

To tell this new story, Luca Napolitano – Head of EMEA Fiat, Lancia & Abarth Brands – plays host to Klaus Busse, Head of FCA EMEA Design, to analyze Panda’s Italian design and style, a perfect mix of the tangible, the functional and the pragmatic.

“A car's success is the result of a winning strategy and a flash of stylistic intuition delivered via research into new trends in taste and customers’ emerging needs,” said Luca Napolitano. “Basically, it stems from a complex formula, one put through its paces by the strictest arbiter of all: time itself. Just like the Fiat Panda, which this year crosses the finish line of its first 40 years, condensed into three generations with numerous technological and sales records. Panda also unmistakably embodies the day-to-day relationship with the car: more immediate, more carefree. Just think of the more than 7.8 million units produced to date, while in the first half of this year the Panda, together with the 500, was confirmed as the undisputed leader in the European A-segment. Following the launch of the hybrid engine, the Panda sold almost 59,900 units and achieved a market share of 17.1%, an increase of 2.3 percentage points year-on-year.”

That is Panda, a city car with a perennial ability to surprise and offer solutions to the broadest requirements, ever since its inception. A multifunctional car, simple and intuitive, accessible and affordable. In a word, unmistakably a Fiat.

“At its debut in 1980, Fiat Panda became known as a magic box, packed full of original, ingenious and surprising ideas.” said Klaus Busse. “Panda is made to be used, to be lived, not only to be seen. It is the typical object of design, beloved for its functionality as well as for its style. And that’s why it’s won everyone's hearts.”

The secrets of Panda’s success include its compact exterior dimensions, the large interior space that can be configured to any transportation requirement, the wide range of engines and the many color combinations. All enveloped in a familiar, robust and reassuring ‘form’ that immediately conjures up charm and complicity, when driven in both the city and on the remotest mountainside. It is no coincidence that Panda is the most popular car among Italians, as well as for so many others across Europe who have chosen it as their ‘companion’ for their everyday journeys on the road. Panda is a city car, but at the same time it’s a small SUV, even at a time nobody knew what an SUV was. Then it becomes truly unstoppable in the 4x4 model.

After all, it is part of Fiat’s DNA to offer original style and functionality, combined with smart solutions that simplify and improve life on board. Likewise for Panda, which has evolved over time while always remaining true to itself, in a perfect balance between form and function. From generation to generation, Fiat’s city car has come to reinterpret its own styling, never losing sight of its own identity, but most of all, never sacrificing versatility. In fact, the Fiat Panda is the functional icon in the line-up, with those distinctive design elements that immediately identify it as a Panda, regardless of generation or year of registration: from the fold-down seats to an interior space to be filled as you wish, from the waistrail to the dashboard storage, all the way to the simple, intuitive arrangement of the controls, for an enjoyable and safe drive.

In the near future, Fiat Panda will continue to surprise. Its innovative nature serves as a constant source of inspiration for the Centro Stile designers, who work in teams to find smart and even more functional solutions for the city car of tomorrow.  One of their many creative processes resulted in the Fiat Concept Centoventi: Fiat’s response to the electric sustainable mobility of tomorrow, based on over 120 years of history.

The journey to discover Fiat Panda does not end here. The third video interview will look at Smart Solutions. Stay tuned!

Turin, July 16, 2020