Fiat Koala: New Small City Car to Sit Below Panda

Fiat Koala: Fiat Confirms the Name of Its Next Small City Car

Fiat's next small city car will be called Koala. Arnaud Belloni, the new boss of Fiat, Abarth and Lancia, confirmed the name at the 2026 Paris Motor Show in October, telling Autocar that "Koala now belongs to Fiat". The car will share its electric platform with the new Citroen 2CV.

Key takeaways

Fiat has registered the Koala name for a small car below the Panda and Grizzly.

It will use the same platform as the new Citroen 2CV and be built with it at Pomigliano d'Arco, Italy.

The platform targets Europe's planned E-Car class for small cars up to 4.2 metres long built in Europe.

Fiat has not given a launch date, specifications or price; reports point to 2027 or 2028.

What Fiat said

"We are preparing a small car which will be based on the 2CV, and it's going to be a 'wow'," Belloni told Autocar. He promised "a very different approach, not neo-retro", so the Koala should not be a modern copy of an old Fiat. Design chief Francois Leboine said the car is as far along as the 2CV, but that Paris was "not the right moment" to show it.

The Koala joins Fiat's bear-named family: the Grande Panda, the smaller Panda and the Grizzly SUV, which Auto Express says goes on sale in January 2027.

Platform and the E-Car class

The Koala and the new 2CV are designed for a new European vehicle category for small, light and affordable electric cars, known as E-Car or M1E. Stellantis and Renault proposed it in July 2025, and the European Commission included it in its proposals in December 2025.

Parameter	Value
Name confirmed	October 2026, Paris Motor Show
Platform	Shared with the new Citroen 2CV
Plant	Pomigliano d'Arco, Italy (reported)
Vehicle class	E-Car (M1E), up to 4.2 m, built in Europe
CO2 credit	Counts as 1.3 vehicles in fleet calculations (proposed)
Launch	Not confirmed (reports: 2027 or 2028)

The rules are not final yet. Under the proposals, an E-Car would count as 1.3 vehicles in a carmaker's CO2 fleet average, which makes small electric cars more attractive for manufacturers to build.

Timing and price

Fiat has not announced a launch date. Motor1 expects the Koala in 2027, while electrive points to 2028, when Stellantis plans to start its E-Car production at Pomigliano. The combustion-engined Panda is built at the same plant until at least 2027, and the Koala will at first be sold alongside it rather than replace it.

There are no official specifications or prices. Fiat says the Koala will be smaller than the 3.6-metre Fiat 500, which would make it one of the smallest cars in its range. For today's small Fiats, see the Fiat catalogue.