A prototype of a new Fiat stopped by French law enforcement: discreet mission interrupted!

France seems to be becoming a playground as unpredictable as it is risky for the group's prototypes. Stellantis. It's hard not to think back to December 2023, when the first images of the new Lancia Ypsilon were leaked after an episode that was, to say the least, incredible: a stolen prototype, found submerged in water, and photos go viral in a matter of hours. Two years later, history repeats itself... with Fiat this time on French soil.

A discreet mission goes wrong in Brittany

According to several eyewitness accounts, Stellantis engineers from Poissy set out to discreetly test a prototype of the future Fiat Fastback on their way to Brittany. A classic road test in real-life conditions, as manufacturers regularly carry out before an official presentation. But this time, discretion didn't last long. In Guipavas, Finistère, the presence of a heavily camouflaged vehicle, equipped with a manufacturer's registration plate, quickly drew the attention of local residents... and the gendarmerie.

The scene was intriguing. The prototype, entirely covered in camouflage to conceal its final lines, was reportedly spotted and then stopped at the Guipavas gendarmerie. Reportedly, a tense exchange took place between the police and the engineers on board, who were clearly reluctant to be photographed or observed too closely. After this stop, there was no official trace of the vehicle. The prototype is said to have left the scene, bringing to a premature end a test run that was intended to be a routine occurrence in the automotive industry.

No doubt about the prototype's identity

Despite the full camouflage, there's little doubt as to the identity of the model intercepted. The proportions, silhouette and roofline clearly identify the future Fiat Fastback, a coupé SUV larger than the Fiat Grande Panda, from which it is directly derived. A further eye-catching detail: beneath the camouflage, the prototype appears to be dressed in a yellow "Yellow Gold" hue, already seen on the new Fiat 500 hybrid. This choice of color further reinforces the idea that this model is already at an advanced stage of development.

While camouflaged prototypes circulate regularly and almost freely in Italy, the situation seems different in France, and more particularly in Brittany. The local gendarmes are clearly not used to seeing this type of atypical vehicle on their roads, even less so when it attracts the attention of the public and car enthusiasts. The result: what was supposed to be a discreet test quickly became an event widely reported on the Internet, with photos and testimonials to back it up.

In the end, this unusual episode only served to heighten curiosity about the future Fiat Fastback. The model could be officially unveiled in the spring or summer of 2026, with the ambition of expanding Fiat's SUV range in Europe, in a more status-oriented and dynamic format than the Grande Panda. In the meantime, one thing is certain: in France, Italian prototypes never go completely unnoticed.