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Fiat Panda Hybrid: Whatever happened to the car that once thrived in Ireland? — And Get Be Get In, Adults It Boot You Will Back, Snug The Panda: Into Will The Also Will The Weekly Fiat Although Five Quite You In Shop

Sat, 03 Apr, 2021 - 06:30

Declan Colley

At one time in this country, the Fiat name was part of the fabric of the place. You could not pass through any medium-sized town without coming across a dealer and you could not turn a corner without encountering one of the Italian marque’s products.

Fiat was a top-three brand in Ireland for decades and its cars here were as ubiquitous as the Catholic Church. Traditionally you had Ford and Toyota fighting for the number one slot, with Nissan, Volkswagen, and Fiat then duking it out for third.

In Italian circles, Ireland was affectionately known as ‘La Roma del nord’ or ‘the Rome of the North', reflecting the generally held view there that as exceptional Catholics, purveyors of great literature and art, and, of course, partial to a drop or two of the good stuff, the Irish were a mirror image of themselves.

It was all baloney, sure, but it made sense if you were Italian and looking beyond your own borders at the hordes of unbelievers and heretics across the rest of Europe, Ireland was a beacon of hope.

The fact we bought — and largely loved — bunches of Fiats, Lancias, and Alfas only confirmed to your regular Italian that we were sound of mind, body, and purpose. Indeed, the connections between the Irish and Italian motoring fraternities were so close as to be nearly incestuous.

Fiat regularly sold anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000 units here annually. Last year Fiat sold a total of 219 vehicles in Ireland. Two hundred and nineteen. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what’s known as a collapse in market share.

Whatever happened to Fiat in Ireland?

The Fiat Panda interior may not exactly exude class, but it is functional and not overburdened with unnecessary tech, as you might assume from the price. That said it is comfortable, pragmatic, and not without a degree of charm.

What happened? Well, like most such catastrophes, there was a combination of factors.

First up, the Irish-based Fiat PR machine — once one of the slickest and most well-oiled in the business — collapsed after several key figures were either sidelined or dispatched altogether and the on-street joke that Fiat was an acronym for ‘fix it again tomorrow’ gained credence in the face of any contradictory evidence.

Secondly, the company made a series of disastrous calls when it came to car production and its traditional A, B, C, and D segment contenders vanished into the ether. Great names such as Panda, Punto, and Tipo disappeared nearly overnight.

Thirdly, a complete lack of product marketing here consigned whatever the company subsequently made into the dustbin of anonymity.

In short, once-thriving dealers were left with a complete absence of decent product, no marketing of that product, and no PR back-up to at least get motoring hacks to write about what little good was coming out of Turin.

It tells its own story that it is September 2017 since Examiner Motoring last drove a Fiat product — and that was an Alfa. The last Fiat I drove was in March that year. That’s a long time by anyone’s reckoning.

The Fiat Ireland operation is now run out of the UK and, frankly, we are treated like some part of Lanarkshire or some other forlorn part of that union.

The fact Fiat actually has some excellent product to market and sell seems to be of nothing to the company. Worryingly, the same thing could be about to happen to Ford.

Communication from these parts with Fiat UK is haphazard at best and that being the case, it is no surprise that Fiat is now more of a novelty in Ireland than the powerhouse it once was.

And that’s a real pity, because it does have some decent product and we’re testing one this week.

The first Panda was originally seen at the Geneva Motor Show in 1980. It was a two-box design penned by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro and replaced the 126 as the company’s micro-mini contender.

Although apparently made from recycled Coca-Cola cans and with seats seemingly constructed from chicken wire, the Panda was nevertheless a very sturdy beast and one which was able to sustain no end of abuse. Fiat sold shedloads of them over 23 years of production (it was sold in Italy until 2003).

The second-generation Panda came along the same year and was more of a mini-MPV, but no less popular for that and it was with us until 2011 when the third version arrived. So good was the Mk II, however, that the Mk III differed little, only in terms of equipment, engines, and an exterior revamp.

That third generation has essentially remained with us since, albeit with a couple of diversions into 4x4 and crossover territory, but late last year a new — and fitting with the times — hybrid version was unveiled. It is this that we recently got our mitts on — with no thanks, it must be said, to Fiat itself.

Fiat Panda: This is the sort of car that, these days, should be selling by the truckload, but thanks to zero marketing, many people might have forgotten it even exists.

The car is powered by a version of Fiat’s excellent little one-litre three-cylinder FireFly engine which is combined with a 12-volt BSG (that’s Belt-integrated Starter Generator, to the unknowing) electric motor and an 11 Ah lithium-ion battery. Output is 70 bhp.

It is allied to a six-speed box and I have to tell you that you’ll need all six of them to go about your business. The 0-100km/h time for the Panda is 14.7 seconds and the top speed is 155km/h. Both figures indicate that the car is somewhat glacial in speed and indeed it is not a speedster.

But then, when was the Panda ever that? Never, quite frankly.

As a town car, ostensibly, it does not need to be quick or even mildly fast. What it needs to be is practical and cheap to run — and on both counts it scores heavily.

You will get five adults in, although it will be quite snug in the back, and you will also get the weekly shop into the boot. But, if you’re looking to carry a fourball to the golf club, along with their gear, forget it. This is a car for empty nesters or single people, but it is an excellent proposition for them.

Nimble, easy to manoeuvre, and can be parked on the proverbial sixpence, it is ideal around town. Further afield it will do whatever business you want from it, but will need time.

The Panda will cruise nicely on motorways, but on B-roads making something like an overtaking move takes planning and careful consideration.

That’s not a bad thing, just something that needs a bit of thought and, really, not a lot different from many other similar cars in the segment.

Weigh that up against a consumption rate which offers 3.7 l/100km (which is well over 75 mpg in old money) and let me know which characteristic tickles you the most.

The interior may not exactly exude class, but it is functional and not overburdened with unnecessary tech, as you might assume from the price. That said it is comfortable, pragmatic, and not without a degree of charm.

This is the sort of car that, these days, should be selling by the truckload, but thanks to zero marketing, many people might have forgotten it even exists.

It does exist and it is, as it ever was, small, practical, hardworking, and (forget the ‘oh no, not a Fiat’ perceptions that exist) remarkably reliable.

Fiat might be a bit late to the hybrid party, but the company is here now and this car is a decent contender in the supermini class, even if it does not have some of the modern-day street cred that might be afforded a Fiat 500 or a Mini.

The bottom line here is that the Panda could do well, if given any degree of support from the parent company, and actually restore much of the public faith in Fiat if the company bothered to support it.