Fiat is “ready” to reveal a new entry-level electric car twinned with the reborn Citroën 2CV - and it could be called the Koala.
The new EV is expected to be an electric counterpart to the existing combustion-engined Panda, which has been on sale in Europe for the past 15 years and is now also known as the Pandina.
It will share Stellantis’s new bespoke platform for small EVs with the 2CV, which was unveiled in concept form at the Paris motor show and will go on sale in 2028.
It has been designed to take advantage of the EU's mooted E-car ruleset, which has been devised to incentivise manufacturers to sell electric cars measuring less than 4.2m long.
This ruleset is inspired by the framework that underpins Japan’s kei cars, which account for roughly 40% of its home market, and is intended to reduce prices to boost the mainstream transition to EVs.
Although the European class – first proposed by Stellantis and the Renault Group in July 2025 – has yet to be signed into law, several manufacturers have described it as key to securing a future for European manufacturing.
Fiat’s first entry into the segment will be the electric Panda replacement, but the company is already working on follow-ups as part of its renewed strategic focus on small, affordable cars.
Speaking at the Paris motor show, new Fiat boss Arnauld Belloni said: “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’."
Design chief François Leboine told Autocar that the first of Fiat’s E-cars is as “ready as the 2CV is”, but that the brand decided it was “not the right moment for us to show what we are doing” – likely so it didn't upstage its French counterpart at its home show.
Leboine suggested that, having now launched larger models in the Grande Panda and Grizzly SUV, Fiat’s priority is to revitalise its city car range.
Although it revealed the Multiplay concept – a Grizzly-sized cross between a pick-up, SUV and MPV – at the Paris show, it also displayed a near-production concept for the Multiplina four-seat quadricycle.
