Next-gen Fiat Panda could be an EV at a petrol car’s price

Following the 500e, Fiat is looking to launch another city electric car. It could be the next-generation Panda and Fiat has already started working on the new car.

Speaking to AutoExpress recently, Olivier Francois, Global President of Fiat brand, said that the Fiat Centoventi showcased at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show is not just a concept but is company’s another approach to fully electric cars. He stated that through the 500e and the non-traditional cars like the Panda-inspired Centoventi, Fiat has a bright future in its approach to electric city cars.

The Fiat Centoventi concept has a minimalistic design and ignores everything that is unnecessary in a car to place importance to interior space. The concept embodies ‘less is more’ philosophy and has some trademark elements of the 80s style Panda, as Avarvarii shows us with his renders. With the Centoventi, Fiat introduced a new business model where the customers can customize the design of the car. Apart from the bumpers, the roof, instrument cluster, livery, batteries and the digital tailgate, customers can purchase over 114 accessories designed by Mopar like the dashboard, seat cushions, door storage units and sound system online and can themselves fit at their homes.

Inside, the instrument cluster can be opted in two versions – one is a 10-inch digital screen that can be integrated with the customers’ smartphone while the second option includes an additional integrated screen taking the overall size of the screen to 20-inches.

Fiat presented the concept with a range of 100 km as standard. The batteries are modular and more batteries can be included (up to 3) to extend the range. There’s also space for one more battery that can be placed under the seat that enables a range of up to 500 km. The production version of the Centoventi (Fiat ePanda) will most probably based on the new 500’s electric platform and Fiat would be looking to price the car very similar to IC engine models.

Source: AutoExpress.co.uk