Fiat’s Tychy Factory Produces 2,000,000th Panda

Fiat has announced that the two millionth Panda has rolled off the production line at Fiat Auto Poland plant in Tychy.  The anniversary car was a Panda Cross version finished in Pasodoble Red and powered by the 75bhp 1.3 MultiJet engine.

Launched in 2003 and marketed in 76 countries worldwide, the second series of the Fiat Panda was critically acclaimed from the start for its affordability and driving fun, winning European Car of the Year in 2004.  We recently found it to be, in real terms, the cheapest new car to buy in Britain.

Subject to a recent upgrade, the Fiat Panda range includes engines (petrol and diesel) with Euro 5 type-approval and alternative engines (methane and LPG — although these aren’t marketed in the UK), as well as versions with front-wheel or four-wheel drive.

Fiat will launch a new third generation Fiat Panda in 2012 — see our scoop shots here.

The new Panda will slot below the 500 in the range as the current one does.  It does grow a little though, by about 20cm (about 8 inches) to 370cm in length (just over 12 feet).  The design is all new, not a facelift, but stays true to the current Fiat Panda while also taking inspiration from the South American market Novo Uno.

Under the bonnet expect the current 1.2 litre petrol engine with about 69hbp and the Multijet 1.3 litre diesel with around 75bhp.  It is also highly likely that the revolutionary and critically acclaimed 900cc petrol TwinAir engines from the Fiat 500 will also feature, making the new Fiat Panda one of, if not the, lowest CO2 emitting petrol car in the world — expect it to cough out around 95g/km.  As with the first and second generation Pandas, expect a 4×4 version with raised ground clearance.

An on sale date for the UK is not clear yet, but expect it to be priced from about £8,000.

Operative since October 1992, the Fiat Auto Poland factory in Tychy has to date produced 6.2 million vehicles.

Other readers also found these posts interesting: