The Friendly Little Fiat Grande Panda Starts At £19k

Things have been a little quiet on the Fiat Grande Panda since the Italian manufacturer unveiled its retro reinterpretation of one of its most enduring names last summer. Finally, though, we have confirmation of when the slightly bigger, but still quite little fella is heading to the UK, and how much it’ll cost.

As its name suggests, the Panda has grown a little from the titchy little city car made famous by James May (seems a missed opportunity from Fiat not to call it the Giant Panda, though). It sits on parent company Stellantis’ new STLA Smart platform, which also underpins the new Citroen C3 and Vauxhall Frontera.

In other words, despite the name, the Panda isn't now some vast SUV. The boxy exterior is a clear throwback to the original Giugiaro-styled Panda, what with its offset grille badge and imprinted ‘Panda’ lettering on the flanks that calls back to the first Panda 4x4. Those very blocky, pixel-like headlights – as well as having a definite whiff of Hyundai about them – also apparently reflect the layout of the windows of Fiat’s iconic Lingotto factory in Turin. The more you know.

As promised, the Grande Panda comes with a choice of full electric or hybrid powertrains. The former nets you a 44kWh battery and a 111bhp motor driving the front wheels, good for a top speed of 82mph. Look, Fiat never promised it would be fast.

The EV comes in two trims: the Grande Panda Red is a tie-in with Fiat’s long-time charity partner, RED, which works on fighting health crises around the world, and costs from £20,975, managing to undercut the equally cute but smaller Hyundai Inster.

The slightly posher La Prima, meanwhile, brings bigger wheels and interior fabrics made from recycled bamboo, and costs from £23,975 as an EV. Weirdly, the La Prima EV is half a second slower to 62mph than the Red – 11.5 seconds compared to 11 flat. The battery version will do a quoted 199 miles on a charge.

Slightly cheaper all-round is the hybrid, which pairs a 1.2-litre turbocharged triple to a small 48v battery, and drives everything through a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox. All-in, the system makes 99bhp. Here, the base model is the £18,975 Icon, while La Prima is again the top trim, costing £20,975.

Whichever version you get, you’ll be treated to a 10.25-inch touchscreen with wireless phone mirroring, various connected services and all the usual driver assist systems needed to get a car on sale in Europe these days. All the versions of the Grande Panda are arriving in the UK in spring, and hopefully, together with the likes of the Hyundai Inster and Renault 5, will contribute to making Britain’s roads a cuter, friendlier place. Take that, BMW XM.