SPY PICS: Fiat Panda 4x4 in the snow
Mini Fiat SUV looks set to be revealed to the public at this year's Geneva motor showIf you’ve ever mourned the passing of Holden’s original Suzuki Ignis-based Cruze SUV, then these photos of the upcoming Fiat Panda 4x4 should be cause to take heart.
Based on the latest, bigger, more refined Panda launched last year, the all wheel drive version takes the term “pert” to new levels. With its determinedly upright, high-clearance and boxy shape, it is not hard to imagine the Panda SUV threading its way nimbly through places a regular SUV would fear to go.
The icy Scandinavian roads being traversed in these Carparazzi photos would seem to be its ideal hunting ground.
With very little disguise, it is pretty easy to imagine the production 4x4 looking very much like a slightly elevated version of the regular five-door Panda hatch, complete with the vertically stacked tail lights and peekaboo rear side windows.
The photo car doesn’t show any evidence of image-enhancing 4x4-style protection measures such as plastic skid plates, side steps or heavier-looking bumpers, but these could easily appear by the time the car is launched.
The powertrains could be expected to include Fiat’s new two-cylinder TwinAir engine, as just introduced in the local Fiat 500, with a 1.3-litre MultiJet2 turbodiesel also a strong and appropriate possibility.
It is anticipated the Panda 4x4 will go on sale in Europe around mid-year, preceded by a public reveal at the Geneva motor show in March. Interestingly, the platform is expected to form the basis of a future Jeep-badged compact SUV for the US market.
The upcoming Panda 4x4 is not the first all-wheel drive version of Fiat’s micro car. The first Panda 4x4 was introduced in 1983, expanding the model lineup of the first-generation Panda, and is believed to have been the first small transverse-engined production car to utilise a 4WD system.
4x4 Pandas remained in the range, continuing through to the second generation model when a 4x4 Climbing edition was introduced in late 2004.
— with Carparazzi
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