The Italian brand Fiat, part of the Stellantis corporation, has announced that the premiere of the Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback crossovers will take place in October at the Paris Motor Show, and their sales in Europe will begin before the end of the year.
The official announcement of the Fiat Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback took place in early June. These two compact crossovers are set to replace the recently discontinued Tipo model on the market. The precursors to the Grizzly and Fiat Grizzly Fastback were angular concepts shown in February 2024: at that time, it was assumed they would become part of the Panda family, but the strategy later changed, and the production models were given a different, also bear-themed name — Grizzly. At the same time, the stylistic kinship between the Grizzly and the Grande Panda cross-hatchback is obvious — the same pixels and edges, only configured slightly differently.
On July 11, the Fiat brand celebrated its 127th anniversary, and on that day it published new photos of the Grizzly and Fiat Grizzly Fastback, a promotional video featuring Olivier François (CEO of Fiat), and announced that the full premiere of these crossovers would take place at the Paris Motor Show. The Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback are global models: in addition to Europe, they will appear in countries in South America, Africa, and the Middle East.
The Fiat Grizzly (length 4.5 m) and Grizzly Fastback (length 4.6 m) are built on the Smart Car platform (a simplified version of the modular CMP platform), which previously underpinned the new Citroen C3 and C3 Aircross, Citroen Basalt, Opel Frontera, and the aforementioned Fiat Grande Panda. The Fiat Grizzly is a direct counterpart to the Citroen C3 Aircross and Opel Frontera, while the Grizzly Fastback represents a more angular variant of the Citroen Basalt.
Among the new photos are interior teasers, from which it can be understood that the dashboard of the Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback will be more angular than that of the Grande Panda, and between the front seats there will be a two-tier central tunnel with a compartment for bags on the lower level. The Fastback, which is actually a liftback, has an impressive trunk volume of 600 liters.
No innovations in terms of technology should be expected from the Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback: they will feature the same set of gasoline, hybrid, and electric powertrains available in their platform-mates. In the "base" configuration, the Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback will most likely have a 1.2-liter gasoline turbocharged three-cylinder engine producing 100 hp, paired with a manual transmission, while the most expensive versions will receive a 145-hp hybrid powertrain based on the same gasoline engine, but supplemented by an electric motor integrated into a 6-speed dual-clutch automated transmission. Whether all-wheel-drive versions will be available is not yet known, but in theory they are possible, as it is known that the Fiat Grande Panda will get a 4x4 version next year.
In the European market, the Fiat Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback will compete with the Dacia Duster and Bigster duo. More precisely, they will attempt to compete, provided that the price in the base configuration is below 25,000 euros. Overall, Fiat brand sales in Europe are growing this year: according to ACEA, 161,716 vehicles were sold in the first five months, which is 27.6% more than in January-May 2025.
Comments (0)