While the new Fiat Grande Panda Barely out of the Serbian factory in Kragujevac, the Fiat 600 enjoyed a record May, thanks in particular to its hybrid version. A striking contrast between two models that share the same segment... but not the same dynamics.
The Grande Panda: a difficult industrial launch
Presented as one of the pillars of the revival Fiat in Europe, the Grande Panda caused quite a stir when orders opened in early 2025. A neo-retro design inspired by the original Panda, an affordable electrified offering and already 15,000 orders in the first few weeks: on paper, everything looked good.
But in the field, production is not keeping up. The Kragujevac plant is still struggling to ramp up production. Despite the arrival of a second production shift and the addition of around 100 Italian workers, capacity remains well below target. In May, production peaked at 180 units a day, far short of the 500 vehicles hoped for.
As a result, in May 2025, the Fiat Grande Panda still failed to make the top 50 registrations in Italy. The same is true in other European countries. On buyers' Facebook groups, the first deliveries of the 100 % electric versions (BEV) got off to a good start in April and May, but in very limited volumes. According to our information, an order placed in May 2025 calls for delivery in July-August for a BEV, and not before October for a hybrid version.
The Fiat 600: from failure to success
In contrast, the Fiat 600, first launched as an electric version in September 2023, got off to a rocky start. But since the hybrid version became available, sales have soared.
And the figures speak for themselves:
- 828 registrations in France for May 2025
- 2,806 registrations in Italy over the same period
- Over 4,000 units sold in France since January
- Nearly 12,000 units sold in Italy since the start of the year
With volumes like these, the Fiat 600 is firmly established in the Italian top 15 and looks set to break into the top 10. A real performance for a model whose start-up had been misguided by an all-electric strategy.
Unexpected internal competition?
What makes the situation even more interesting is that both the Fiat 600 and the Grande Panda operate in the same small SUV/high-set city car segment. The Grande Panda is priced at around €19,000, while the 600 comes in at around €24,500.
But today, it's not a question of price, but of availability. Where the 600 is visible in dealerships and on the road, the Grande Panda remains, for the moment, a paper model. And despite its more attractive price, it risks leaving impatient buyers, ready to make a financial effort, turning to the most immediately available model.
Fiat thus finds itself in a paradoxical situation: its most eagerly-awaited model for 2025 is held back by its industrial tooling, while an initially shunned model establishes itself as the new best-seller. One struggles to make it in the rankings, the other confidently takes its place.
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If customers switch from the Grande Panda to the 600, that's no problem, because neither of them is made in Italy anyway. I hope this will be a good lesson for Fiat's management: they have thousands of long-trained workers in Italy waiting for work when they're struggling to find it in Serbia, offering miserable wages that will cost them dearly in the end.
Danke für deinen tollen Kommentar.
Geld-geile Milliardäre zerstören ihre eigene Heimat.
Exactly! And as far as I'm concerned, it's impossible for me to sit down (I'm 1.95m tall) in this new generation of French Stellantis pans disguised as Italian ones (600, Junior, Ypsillon)!
Proof if it were needed that models designed entirely by FIAT (FCA) will always remain superior in terms of on-board access and habitability to those designed by the former PSA group!
PS: I'm the proud owner of a super spacious electric Fiat 500!
Hauptsache das Auto ist überall außer in Italien und Afrika zu teuer.
600er hybrid kostet in Deutschland mit Paketen schnell knapp 30.000€. für ein Haufen Plastik, schlechter Verarbeitung, schlechten Service und on Top jeder Menge Elektronik Problemen.
Jeder Toyota ist günstiger und besser in dem Segment.
Fiat ist in Deutschland Premium haha. Und selbst in Italien soll er angeblich selten als nw unter 25000 zu haben sein.
John braucht Geld. Kommt kauft,🤣
Hybrids are exclusively city cars, designed for driving at 30 km/h, which consume much more than advertised, as soon as you take the main roads at 90km/h . A great fraud. What's more, they have all the drawbacks of both combustion and electric cars, with their invasive and extremely fragile electronic management.
Regularly towing a two-axle trailer. 1t . I've found that nothing beats a good diesel with a manual gearbox. It's more economical, more powerful and much more comfortable to tow, manoeuvre and reverse than all the other vehicles with automatic gearboxes and other energy sources. That can count for something, depending on how you use it.