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Fiat Ready to Reveal Koala Electric Car as Panda-Inspired 2CV Twin
Fiat has trademarked the Koala name for a new entry-level electric car that will share Stellantis's small EV platform with the reborn Citroën 2CV, as the brand moves to revitalise its city car range.
By Charlotte Redford · 4 min read
Fiat is preparing to unveil a new entry-level electric car that will share its underpinnings with the reborn Citroën 2CV, and the Italian brand has trademarked the name Koala for the model. The vehicle is expected to serve as an electric counterpart to the combustion-engined Panda, which has been on sale in Europe for 15 years and is now also known as the Pandina.
The new EV will use Stellantis's bespoke platform for small electric cars, the same architecture that underpins the 2CV concept unveiled at the Paris motor show. That Citroën model is scheduled to go on sale in 2028. The platform has been designed to take advantage of proposed EU rules intended to incentivise manufacturers to sell electric cars measuring less than 4.2 metres in length, a framework inspired by Japan's kei car class.
Speaking at the Paris motor show, new Fiat boss Arnauld Belloni confirmed the brand's ambitions. «We are working on a few cars based on the E-car platform. We are preparing a small car which will be based on the 2CV, and it's going to be a 'wow',» he said. Design chief François Leboine told Autocar that the first of Fiat's E-cars is as «ready as the 2CV is», but that the company decided it was «not the right moment for us to show what we are doing» — likely to avoid upstaging its French counterpart at its home show.
Leboine suggested that, having launched larger models in the Grande Panda and Grizzly SUV, Fiat's priority is now to revitalise its city car range. «We are redoing the bottom part of our range,» he said. «It is Pandina today but also 500. The maturity of the 2CV concept is evident, and we will follow exactly the same maturity. We will show it at a good moment.»
Although the first of Fiat's E-cars will sit within the Panda family, it will not necessarily carry that name. Belloni revealed that Fiat has trademarked Koala in keeping with its scheme of naming models in the Panda range after different bears. «Koala now belongs to Fiat,» he said. «We have a Koala, a Panda and a Grizzly.» He joked that the only bear name Fiat cannot use is Kodiak, because Skoda uses it for its large SUV.
The Koala name would clearly distinguish the EV from the combustion-engined Panda, which remains Italy's best-seller. Fiat has committed to continuing to serve the market for affordable petrol-powered cars. Fiat Europe boss Gaetano Thorel said earlier this year: «I need to find a proper answer for my Panda population. We need to find a multi-energy solution.»
Although the new E-car is expected to draw on familiar Panda cues, Belloni ruled out a revival of previous iterations of the city car in the same vein as the 2CV. He described it as «a very different approach, not neo-retro». Leboine referenced an E-car design competition Fiat ran for Italian university students earlier this year. Public voting awarded victory to the Ippo concept, a blocky hatchback reminiscent of Pandas past and present, suggesting Fiat could borrow cues from it as well as runners-up the Lumo Su Misura and the Fizz.
Fiat has since shown the Ippo in strategic presentations alongside the Multiplina and Grizzly, hinting at the high regard in which it holds the proposal. It also gave seven of the students apprenticeships in its design studio, and four remain with the company. Leboine said they brought «some ideas that we were surprised by, cool ideas that we share», which have influenced future Fiats. «We could take some bits and pieces, and now they are working in Fiat and they see things happening, and that's cool,» he added. «We are quite happy with what we have, but I cannot say more.»
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