Stellantis to Keep Milking the Fiat Panda Like the Cash Cow That It Is Until 2026

Well, they’re not the only aging models, because the current Fiat Panda has been around since 2011.

The third-generation city car has a lot of things in common with the Fiat 500 and Lancia Ypsilon. It is offered in a five-door hatchback body style, with a selection of small gasoline engines and on-demand all-wheel drive, reminiscent of its predecessors.

So, do you think that Stellantis, Fiat’s parent company, will soon pull the plug on it? Not quite, because a report from Reuters, quoting the metal workers union, states that the Panda will live on for a few more years. In fact, it will remain in production, at the Pomigliano plant, in Italy, until 2026, and by then, it will be 15 years old.

But why did they choose to go down this route, when most car buyers only want crossovers and SUVs, and the electric cloud is hovering above the automotive industry? For the simple fact that the Fiat Panda is still a huge cash cow in Europe.

You see, according to CarSalesBase, 2021 was the model’s worst year in terms of sales in the Old Continent, yet the figure might surprise you: 131,723 – that’s how many Pandas were sold on the right side of the Atlantic Ocean last year. In 2020, the Italian automaker shifted 145,907 copies, down from the 184,027 in 2019. In 2018 and 2017, 168,094 and 187,049 examples were delivered respectively, and the model’s best year was 2016, when no less than 190,432 units were sold. In its first year in the market, 2011, the Panda accounted for 188,462 sales, and its third-worst year was 2014, with 152,045 of them shipped all over Europe.