Fiat Panda I

The Fiat Panda I is the first generation of the Panda, a small city car that Fiat built from 1980 to 2003. It was commissioned in 1976 by Fiat chief executive Carlo De Benedetti and styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign under the project name Rustica, as a simple, robust Italian answer to the 2CV and the Renault 4L, with flat body panels and a large, almost vertical square tailgate. It reached the market in February 1980 as the Panda 30, with the air-cooled 652 cubic centimetre twin-cylinder engine of the Fiat 126, and the Panda 45, with the 903 cubic centimetre four-cylinder engine of the Fiat 127. A four-wheel-drive version developed with Steyr-Puch followed in 1983, and a 1.3 litre diesel was sold in some European markets from 1986 to 1989. The car was built in three series, 1980 to 1985, 1986 to 1992 and 1992 to 2003, and in size it sat between the Fiat 126 and the Fiat 127.