Fiat adds the next model to the Panda City car, this time an Urban crossover style car.

• Two-wheel-drive Panda, with off-road looks joins the range
• Available with the 69hp 1.2-litre petrol engine
• Orders for the New City Cross are now open, priced from £12,995

The new Fiat Panda City Cross is the latest addition to the Panda family, with two-wheel-drive and urban crossover looks, all for a city car price. 

The new Panda City Cross is a true urban crossover designed for customers looking for a practical city car, with an off-road look, at an affordable price. Building on the style of the Panda Cross 4x4, the Panda City Cross comes with body-coloured front and rear bumper inserts and side mouldings and contrasting black door mirror caps, roof bars and door handles. Completing the off-road look it comes with the same 15-inch alloy wheels, that can be found on the Panda Cross.

Inside, the Panda City Cross features a grey dashboard fascia with matt black instrument panel inserts and new seats, characterised by black and grey fabric with black eco-leather side inserts. The new Panda City Cross is available in front-wheel drive combined with the 69hp 1.2-litre petrol engine.

The new Panda City Cross is available in two new body colours: the pastel Minimal Grey and Electronica Blue, the latter available exclusively on this car. An optional pack can also be specified to customise the car further: The City Cross Style pack adds ultrashine roofbars, side mouldings and skid plate as well as body coloured door mirrors and front red hooks, to bring it in line with the Panda Cross. Inside, the City Cross style pack includes an upgraded copper dashboard and panels and seat upholstery to match its four-wheel-drive sibling.

Ever since its debut, Panda has stood out for its three different personalities: as a functional city car, an ultra-compact 4WD off-roader and a stylish urban crossover with excellent off-road qualities. Its compact size, flexible interior, wide choice of engines and colour combinations, and simple line-up are now enhanced with this latest version.

Model	Power hp	Torque Nm	Economy mpg  (combined  cycle)	Emissions  g/km CO2	Price OTR
Panda City Cross    1.2- litre     69hp	69	102 @3,000rpm	51.4	129	£12,995

The first four months of the year see's the European Small car segment have lots of up's and down's.

European minicar sales – especially at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles -- are getting a lift from the continuing economic rebound in Italy, which is the top market for the region's smallest, most affordable vehicles. Through April, Italy’s minicar sales were up 20 percent to 129,770 vehicles, giving the models a 25 percent share of the market, according to figures from JATO Dynamics.

The car that has benefited most is the Fiat Panda, which has overtaken the Fiat 500 to become the segment's best-seller with a volume of 74,018 units across Europe, an increase of 21 percent.

Rising demand in Italy, as well as growth in Spain and Portugal, have boosted Europe's overall minicar segment by 3.8 percent after four months, but the sector (also called the A-segment) will level off at about 1.2 million annually from 2016 to 2020, analysts at IHS Automotive predict.

IHS believes that demand has stabilized following significant sales increases and decreases between 2009 and 2014. Minicar volume rose to more than 1.6 million in 2009, which is when small, affordable cars became even cheaper to buy because a number of European governments started offering trade-in incentives to support automakers during the height of the global financial downturn. The surge was followed by a decline to about 1.13 million minicar sales in 2013 and 2014 because so many purchases were pulled forward by the incentive offers.

Highs and lows

The recent highs and lows, the predicted flatness of the segment as well as the difficulty most automakers have had turning a profit from minicars has convinced manufacturers such as Ford Motor and Nissan to leave the sector.

Ford will end sales of the Ka after a two-decade run and offer a pair of vehicles in the subcompact segment: the Ka+ and the Fiesta. The Ka+, which is just a few millimeters shorter than the Fiesta, will be Ford’s entry model for Europe. The current Ka shared a platform and factory with the Fiat 500, but it never came close to matching the success of its sibling model. "Either you partner with someone in this segment or you’re out," said a Ford official, who didn’t want to be named.

The Ka+, which is 3929mm long compared with 3620mm for the current Ka, goes on sale in the autumn. Ford says the arrival of the Ka+ allows it to reposition the next-generation Fiesta more upmarket when it debuts early next year. Ford said it will drop the Fiesta's Ambiente base trim line to leave the subcompact segment's entry price level to the Ka+.

Disappointing sales of the Ka, which had a volume of just 12,975 units through April compared with 68,068 for the Fiat 500, was "partly our fault," said a Ford source who declined to be named. "Fiat really turned the 500 into its own brand and we could have done more with the Ka, too. But when you're completely focused on returning to profitability [which Ford of Europe did in 2015 after three years of losses], investing more time and effort into a segment that on good days barely makes money is just not a priority," the source said.

Nissan, meanwhile, is reluctant to rejoin the segment after dropping the India-built Pixo in 2013. "If you look at the volume and expected profit from those vehicles, I'm not convinced there's a significant place for an A-platform car in Europe," Trevor Mann, Nissan's chief performance officer, told Automotive News Europe. Nissan and alliance partner Renault have also said they don't plan to re-engineer the successful India-built Kwid for Europe.

Troubled Twingo?

Renault is struggling in the minicar segment with the rear-wheel-drive Twingo as sales of the car fell by 20 percent to 29,081 in the first four months, according to JATO's figures. The decline dropped the Twingo to fifth place behind the similarly aged Toyota Aygo. The dip came despite the popularity of minicars in Renault's home market of France, which ranks fourth in Europe behind Italy, the UK and Germany. French minicar sales rose 2 percent to 54,415 in the period.

Renault's expectations for the car haven’t been met, said IHS analyst Ian Fletcher. IHS reports that last year Renault cut a shift at its Twingo factory in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, where the car is built alongside its platform mate, the Smart ForFour. Fletcher believes some customer are put off by the Twingo's rear-engine design, which reduces trunk space. Another problem is that the Twingo is facing competition from its larger sibling, the Renault Clio. "Some deals Renault has at the moment don't put the Clio that far away from the Twingo [in price]," Fletcher said.

Sales of the Aygo, meanwhile, are holding up because Toyota is meeting strong demand for personalization options. "Customization in that segment is very, very popular," Toyota Europe CEO Johan van Zyl said on the sidelines of the Automotive News Europe Congress in Munich last month. The Aygo's wide choice of colors and features is attracting a younger crowd, van Zyl said.

Other automakers are adapting their models to try to win new buyers. Renault, for example, will launch a GT version of the Twingo later this year that boosts power from the car's 1.2-liter turbocharged gasoline engine to 110 hp compared with 90 hp for the base Twingo.

Volkswagen showed a face-lifted version of the Up at this year's Geneva auto show featuring a 1.0-liter turbocharged TSI gasoline engine for the first time, as well as a dashboard dock for a smartphone to create an inexpensive infotainment system via a VW app.

Meanwhile, Hyundai will use the Paris auto show in September to unveil a face-lifted version of its i10 minicar that has been redesigned to attract younger buyers, a company source said.

As the segment's sales level off minicars are expected to have a market share of about 9 percent within Europe, making it the region's third-largest segment after subcompacts and compacts.

That number won't be declining any time soon, JATO Dynamics global analyst Felipe Munoz said: "The segment will always appeal to a variety consumers: first-time car buyers, single people, or simply because of parking reasons," he said. "And it doesn't face direct competition from the SUV segment, at least not for now."

Nick Gibbs

Automotive News Europe

REPORT HERE

UK SALES MARCH - Fiat and its evergreen range of cars continue to post gains, the best since 2004.

• FIAT UK March sales the best monthly total since 2004
• Market share grows from 2.42% to 2.54%
• Sales driven by segment-leading FIAT 500 and the growing popularity of the FIAT 500X SUV
• With all-new FIAT Tipo and FIAT 124 Spider due before the end of the summer, the prospects for FIAT UK look positive in 2016

FIAT UK has achieved its best monthly sales total in almost 12 years with 13,190 registrations in March 2016, an increase of 10.62% compared to March of last year. 

Indeed, FIAT UK’s March registration figures are the strongest monthly figures it has posted since September 2004, when FIAT sold 13,668 vehicles. It’s also the brand’s best March since 2004, when the popularity of the FIAT Punto and FIAT Panda drove sales to 14,146 vehicles.

According to SMMT figures, sales for the iconic Italian brand have reached 18,665 for the first quarter of the year resulting in an increase in market share from 2.42% to 2.54% compared to its 2015 year-to-date figure and a further signal of the FIAT brand’s resurgent popularity.

Key to FIAT UK’s sales growth has been the arrival of the new FIAT 500 and increasing public awareness of the size, performance and capability of the FIAT 500X SUV.

The FIAT 500 was refreshed in the autumn of 2015 and is now regaining its stellar sales momentum as more buyers are won over by the benefits of its new infotainment technologies, increased personalisation options, improved refinement and subtly enhanced styling, not to mention the addition of the 1.3 MultiJet II diesel and Eco version of the popular 1.2-litre engine. With the sporty new FIAT 500S arriving in showrooms in the summer, the indications are positive that the FIAT 500 will grow in terms of popularity and success in 2016, further consolidating its position as the leader in its segment.

As the FIAT 500X range celebrates its first anniversary in the UK market, sales are now shifting into high gear as its distinctively Italian design and surprising on-road presence attract more and more customers into showrooms. The FIAT UK marketing team has also launched an innovative media plan featuring a new advertising campaign - tailored to the UK and developed hand in hand with FIAT HQ - which reinforces the size, versatility and fun-to-drive characteristics of the FIAT 500X. This plan, combined with a positive response to the 500X from the motoring media, has seen sales jump from just a handful a year ago to 2,863 in March 2016, making it the fourth best seller in the compact SUV segment.

With the FIAT 124 Spider roadster and FIAT Tipo range all set to arrive before the end of the summer, the prospects for the brand look increasingly positive as 2016 progresses.

Sebastiano Fedrigo, Country Manager FIAT UK, commented, “We were confident that 2016 would be a turning point for the FIAT brand in the UK and so far this is proving to be the case. The careful enhancements our designers and engineers made to the FIAT 500 were exactly in line with what our customers wanted and as the visibility of the FIAT 500X increases as more hit the streets, we’ve shifted our marketing focus to emphasis its true capability and versatility. It’s always a challenge to enter a new segment but momentum is building behind the 500X and we expect this success to grow, especially as the new FIAT 124 Spider and FIAT Tipo draw even more customers to our dealerships.”

The FIAT 500 range starts at £11,050 OTR while the FIAT 500X range is priced from £14,295 OTR. The three-model FIAT 500L line-up (500L, MPW and Trekking) starts from £13,665 OTR while the three-model Panda range (Panda, 4X4, Cross) is available from £9,510 OTR. The other models in the FIAT range include the FIAT Punto (£11,485 OTR), the FIAT Qubo (£12,695 OTR) and FIAT Doblo (£13,775 OTR).

SPAIN - FIAT and JEEP shows significant growth in Spain during October, with Jeep up 272%, FIAT up 26.1%

Translated by Google - Apologies for any errors caused.

• Fiat increases its cumulative growth to 26.1% from January to October.
• Jeep exceeds 4,000 units throughout the year and recorded a growth of 272%, the highest in the Spanish passenger car market

FCA Group registrations in Spain continue to accumulate a positive growth trend. While the passenger car market registered to October 2015 increased by 20.5% over the same period last year (863,973 units accumulated confirms that one million units will be reached at the end of the year), both Fiat and Jeep kept growth levels well above the national average.

The arrival of the new Fiat 500 and the resounding success of the last to arrive at the range, the Fiat 500X, have allowed the general data of the brand in October again be not only positive, but maintain a growth value Annual of 26.1% with a total of 32,799 units.

Meanwhile, Jeep continues to be the fastest growing brand in 2015 throughout the Spanish market. In October, Jeep registrations increased 136.7% over the same month in 2014. While in the full year, from January to October 31, the growth of the brand is a spectacular 272% to over 4,000 units and setting a leadership that is maintained for more than 14 months and where the launch of Jeep Renegade has been key with a total of 2,650 units registered since the beginning of the year.

* Data ANFAC

ITALY - The order books are now open for the new Panda 4x4 K-Way, after the 4x2 launch in June.

• From today, in Italy, open orders of the new special series that combines the stylistic features of the 4x2 version with functionality, versatility and security of all-wheel drive.

• Five liveries, 17 color combinations, details in titanium color and interior specifications: it is the ideal choice for a customer lover of leisure but that does not renounce to the strong personalization.

• Available with two Euro 6 engines: 0.9 TwinAir 85 HP 1.3 Multijet and 95 bhp.

• The new Panda 4x4 K-Way is available from € 18,200.

With winter approaching it's time to rely on a Panda 4x4 K-Way®, the unstoppable city car that combines the versatility and safety, typical of four-wheel drive, with the unmistakable style of Panda K-Way® front-wheel drive launched in June. 

He continues the collaboration between Fiat and the brand dell'antipioggia for excellence, two brands famous throughout the world for their products classic, contemporary, technological, functional, colorful and intelligent.

Specific features of the Panda 4x4 K-Way® is the transmission system "torque on demand" that come into play automatically when required to overcome any situation with ease. In addition, K-Way® Panda 4x4 offers as standard the ESC (Electronic Stability Control) 

Full function ELD (Electronic Locking Differential), an additional driving aid and inrush departing on routes with poor grip.

Designed especially for active customers and lovers of free time, outside the Panda 4x4 K-Way® offers special items painted in titanium as bar logo front door and roof bars. 

In addition, the customer can choose one of five body colors available - white, blue, black, red and orange - combining it with the wing mirrors in four colors (yellow, orange, blue and titanium) and hubcaps embellished logo K-Way ®, the same that stands on the original sticker placed on the wing mirrors. 

The Panda 4x4 K-Way® is equipped as standard with alloy wheels 15 '' burnished and M + S tires that improve traction on slippery surfaces.

The same strong customization is evident inside, seats upholstered in blue fabric and eco-gray skin, with the K-Way® logo displayed on the front seat, in addition to the dashboard and blue instrument panel silver UltraShine. 

Furthermore, the distinctive colors of the brand K-Way® are clearly visible on the seat belts customized, on the key cover and floor mats PVC multilayer blue. 

Not least, the seats have two back-pockets back equipped with "VISIBAG®", the high visibility jacket - safety device packable and unique style - created specifically to K-Way® for Fiat.

At launch, the Panda 4x4 K-Way® offers two engines meet Euro 6: the petrol 0.9 TwinAir 85 HP (114 g / km CO2) and the turbodiesel 1.3 Multijet 95 bhp (117 g / km CO2).  

Joint venture between Fiat and K-Way® is born, a specific line of licensing, and accessories made by Mopar, the brand for the services, the Customer Care, genuine parts and accessories for brands to FCA. 

The new collection adopts styles and materials of the brand K-Way® reinterpreted for clients of the Panda: from jackets waterproof resealable bag to the expenditure to be used in the supermarket, the container-empty pockets to shoppers for the modern woman.

Translated by Google - Apologies for any errors that may have been caused. 

Fiat's New 500 and Panda dominate the European City Car sales charts, with growth in most models.

Italy’s economic rebound and the arrival of the refreshed Fiat 500 will help pull minicar sales out of a slump that caused the segment to drop to a five-year low in 2014, analysts at IHS Automotive predict.

European minicar sales fell 32 percent to 1,125,160 million in 2014 compared with 2009, with Italy down 50 percent to 244,642 during the period, IHS figures show.

However, the analyst firm predicts that Europe’s overall minicar sales will rise to about 1.2 million this year and 1.25 million next year because the volume in Italy -- Europe’s No. 1 market for the entry-level models -- is poised to increase to 260,000 this year and 300,000 in 2016.

That is still way below the roughly 500,000 minicars, also known as A-segment cars, that were sold in Italy in 2009, when a government-subsidized car-scrapping program artificially inflated demand. Similar schemes, which were used across Europe to boost sales during the height of the global financial crisis, pushed total minicar volume to 1.65 million five years ago.

Fiat’s dominance

What is expected to drive Italy’s minicar sales rebound is the country’s improving economic climate and the debut of the revised version of the 500, Fiat's higher-end, higher-priced minicar, which is Europe’s best-seller in the segment, according to data from JATO Dynamics.

Fiat also claimed second place in the segment with the more practical, more affordable Panda. European sales of the Panda increased by 11 percent to a little more than 76,000 through May.

The 500 also is a hit outside its home country, ranking as the UK’s best-selling minicar and No. 10 overall after five months, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Strong demand for the 500 helped make the UK Europe’s No. 2 market for minicars last year, IHS figures show. The UK nearly topped Italy in 2014 as demand rose to 237,138.

Overall UK car sales are being boosted by low interest rates that cut monthly finance figures low enough for buyers like Duncan Watson, a medical equipment salesman from Leighton Buzzard, southern England, who recently chose a new minicar over a second-hand model.

Watson is paying 138 pounds (about 195 euros) a month for a Peugeot 108 that he bought for his daughter, Ellie, on a personal lease from a local dealer. “I only cared about whether I could afford the monthly cost, and tried to get this as low as possible,” he told Automotive News Europe.

The 108’s sister model, the C1, is currently Citroen’s top-selling car in the UK, brand CEO Linda Jackson told Automotive News Europe in June.

Working together

The 108, C1 and Toyota Aygo are the second generation of minicars built at PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and Toyota’s joint venture plant in Kolin, Czech Republic. All three ranked in the bottom half of the European top 10 through May with a combined volume of 97,562.

In April, PSA CEO Carlos Tavares told Reuters he wanted to maintain the French automaker’s minicar arrangement with Toyota, but he indicated an openness to adding partners to further spread costs.

“To make A-segment cars, it‘s better to have the kind of grouping of several [automakers] that are going to share a given investment and then make derivatives out of the common investment,” Tavares said.

Tavares was chief operating officer at PSA’s French rival, Renault, when it teamed up with Daimler to create a joint rear-wheel-drive minicar. The results are the current Renault Twingo, the Smart ForTwo and ForFour, all of which debuted in 2014.

The Twingo was given a more premium styling to better compete with the Fiat 500, a move that has proved to be a success as European sales were up 39 percent to 42,417 in the first five months.

The Twingo’s rise means Renault is poised to retake third place in the segment from the VW Up, which had an 11 percent sales decline in the January to May period.

“New competition in the sector is probably the thing that is harming the Up at the moment,” IHS Automotive principal analyst Ian Fletcher told Automotive News Europe. The Up was launched in late 2011 along with its sister models, the Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii. The minicars are made at VW Group’s factory in Slovakia.

Special models

Of the three, only the Mii has increased sales so far this year, rising 4.4 percent to 10,456. It was helped by growth of the Spanish market and the debut of a new upmarket variant, Seat CEO Juergen Stackmann told journalists during a visit to the UK in July.

The Mii by Mango is a more premium version of the minicar that was created in collaboration with Mango, a Barcelona-based fashion house. The special edition Mii costs 9,480 euros compared with 6,500 euros for an entry-level Mii in Spain.

Stackmann said Seat sold 5,000 units of the model in its first year, with 80 percent being purchased by women. “It was far ahead of our expectations,” he said. “The [Mii’s] average transaction price has gone up tremendously.” IHS expects Spain’s minicar segment to double from a low of 24,558 in 2011 to about 52,000 this year.

The trend for more premium features and higher-end models in the sector also has boosted Opel/Vauxhall’s Adam, which is now available as a three-door hatchback, convertible and as a crossover that is called Adam Rocks.

Sales of the car rose 9 percent to 24,984 in the first five months. In May, Opel added the more practical, less-expensive Karl minicar, which is sold as the Vauxhall Viva in the UK.

“Very few manufacturers have a lineup in the A-B [minicar-subcompact] segment that’s so fresh and able to cater to different subsegments,” Vauxhall Managing Director Tim Tozer told Automotive News Europe. Opel also recently launched the new-generation Corsa subcompact.

Minicars are currently Europe’s third-largest segment and while small SUVs are stealing some sales from the sector, IHS predicts minicar volumes will remain steady at about 1.2 million until 2018. As Citroen CEO Jackson says: “There’s always room for a good cheap small vehicle at the bottom.”

Nick Gibbs

REPORT HERE

SPAIN - FIAT reveals the all new Special Edition Panda K-Way®

• With an inviting gateway "ready-to-wear" the new special series colorful and functional result of collaboration with waterproof clothing brand par excellence, causal and fashion are presented to the press today. Twenty color combinations, finished in titanium color, interior and extensive information specific standard: Panda K-Way®es the perfect choice for a metropolitan customer.

Following its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show 2015, today the new special series Panda K-Way®, a collaboration between Fiat and rainwear brand par excellence, casual and fashion is presented to the international press. 

The two brands have in common and are famous throughout the world for its classic, timeless, technological, functional, colorful and smart products. An example? The new Panda K-Way®, the first product to "dress" the signing of the two international brands.

Chosen for the press launch location is "La Pelota" Milan, an eclectic and versatile space located in the most fashionable area of Milan and has been subjected to a radical renewal. Inside is mounted original catwalk parade worthy of a "ready-to-wear," which debuted in the new version of the Fiat Panda, these days, will hit Italian Fiat showroom and gradually the rest of European countries.

In Italy, they have scheduled a conference open to the 6th and 7th June that will allow the general public to know the extraordinary offer dedicated to the new Panda K-Way®: in fact, in this first phase of launch, thanks to the contribution brand and the Fiat dealer network, equipped with the 1.2 petrol engine 69 hp version has been offered to promotional price of 9.950euros including air conditioning, radio, roof barrasde and safety vests "VISIBAG®".

Aimed primarily at customers and enthusiasts dynamic urban style, the Panda K-Way® proposes 20 color combinations, confirming the natural predisposition of the model for maximum customization. 

Specifically, the customer can choose one of six body colors available - blue, white, black, red, yellow and orange - combining it with tops of mirrors and hubcaps in four colors: yellow, orange, blue and titanium.

The extraordinary personality of the Panda K-Way® is also evident in certain finished parts in titanium, as the bar carrying the front logo, roof rails, hub caps and covers the exterior mirrors. Furthermore, the rear doors on the decks and in the central part of the original hubcaps include vinyl K-Way®.

The same strong customization is applied to the interiors, which include blue fabric seats baquero and gray imitation leather, with logo K-Way® in the seat back also blue dashboard and instrument cluster of ultra bright silver color. Likewise, the distinctive colors of the K-Way® marks are visible on the seat belts in the key housing and multilayer mats of blue PVC. 

Last but not least, the seats feature two pockets behind the back equipped with "VISIBAG®" high visibility vest (safety device with an unmistakable style that can be packed), created specifically for the Fiat brand K Way®.

At launch, the Panda K-Way® offers a wide range of engines which, depending on the market, including petrol engines 1.2 69 bhp (motor to be sold in the Spanish market) and 0.9 TwinAir (65 or 85 CV) and Bi-fuel Methane 0.9 TwinAir 80 hp and 69 hp 1.2 LPG engines. To these were later added to the 1.3 MultiJet turbodiesel.

In addition to the K-Way® personalizing, serial contents include the CD / MP3 radio with six speakers, front windows, security systems ABS with BAS and EBD, front and rear head restraints, four airbags (driver , passenger and curtain), the device GSI (Gear Shift Indicator) and the Start & Stop system (only on the TwinAir and MultiJet engines).

The collaboration between Fiat and K-Way® to a specific line is also extended licensing , accessories and merchandising by Mopar, the reference mark for the services, customer service, original spare parts and accessories for Fiat brands Chrysler Automobiles. 

The new collection features applies the same style and materials of the K-Way® brand, reinterpreted for customers Panda model: from waterproof jackets to the shopping bag to use at the supermarket, the vaciabolsillos and bags purchase for the modern woman. The products are available both in store Fiat as at selected dealers.