One-Millionth Current-Gen Fiat Panda Rolls Off Production Line

The cutesy city car from Fiat has reached an important milestone this week as the one-millionth Panda belonging to the current fourth generation was assembled at the G. Vico Pomigliano d'Arco plant in Italy. The celebratory car is a white Panda Cross with the puny 69-horsepower 1.2-liter gasoline engine and set to be delivered in the near future to a customer from the model's domestic market Italy.

Fiat is happy to remind us all about the model's success by mentioning the Panda has been the best-selling car in its segment in Europe since 2016 and the most popular model overall in Italy for five years in a row. Originally introduced in 1980, the pint-sized model has been assembled in more than 7.5 million units and throughout the years it marked several premieres.

For example, the Panda 4x4 was the first car in its class to feature an all-wheel-drive system back in 1983. Three years later, it became the first model of its size to receive a diesel engine. Fast forward to 2004, it was named "Car of the Year" – a first for a vehicle in this segment. Also in 2004, the Panda became the first city car to climb to the Mount Everest base camp at 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) of elevation.

It was in 2006 when the Panda became the first methane-fuelled city car to be mass produced and since 2007 it has been the best-selling methane-fuelled car not just in Italy, but also in Europe. Fiat is proud to say the current Panda is the only car in its segment to be sold with gasoline, diesel, gasoline & LPG, and gasoline & methane engines. Buyers get to pick from front- and all-wheel drive, manual or robotized gearboxes, and from three specifications: Urban, City Cross, and 4x4.

Fiat gave the Panda a minor facelift a little over a year ago and was seen in February 2017 testing a camouflaged prototype, which might have been a sign of new engines being developed for the Firefly family of power units.