Fiat is Italy's national carmaker, a brand that typifies the all country's values, and in Bologna it didn't disappoint the partisan home crowd, the high point of the official press conference on Tuesday morning being the unveiling of the exciting new Panda Dakar, a tiny rally machine that despite its diminutive size harbours big ambitions.

Exactly a year ago at the Bologna Motor Show Fiat brand CEO Luca De Meo dramatically smashed his way into the press conference astride the huge Oltre Fiat off-roader showcar, a year later he was back, this time revealing another Fiat-built vehicle with genuine off-road pretensions, but this time it is at the other end of the size scale: small, cute and very very potent, the new Panda Dakar aims to take on the 'big boys' at the toughest game imaginable: surviving everything the 2007 Lisboa-Dakar can throw at it. 8,696 kilometres, every single one of them posing the Panda Dakar a challenge, across Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal await it as it takes on the task of getting to Dakar, and with an almost standard engine under the bonnet tasked with powering it across Northern Africa.

Luca De Meo summarised the excellent year that the Fiat brand has turned in, particularly the ongoing sales success of the Grande Punto; and that future models such as the new 500, are just around the corner, cars that will take the Fiat revival forward to new levels. There were new management appointments in place, but this press conference was all about the exciting new Panda Dakar and the Italian media were crammed in to see the covers come off the car.

De Meo introduced onto the podium Miki Biasion, who will lead the Dakar-bound team; an Italian rally legend he has already entered the history books for steering the immortal Lancia Delta to the FIA World Rally Championship crown. Recently Biasion has turned his experienced hand to the "Rally-Raid" discipline, and has recently racked up several Dakar Rally participations at the wheel of the huge Iveco-supported trucks, showing a turn of speed that has mightily impressed grizzled old Dakar hands. Now his mission is to take the tiny Panda safely to the finish line in 2007, his most arduous challenge to date.
 

Then De Meo unleashed a big surprise - Bruno Saby was presented as the pilot of the second factory Panda for the Dakar Rally; at a stroke emphasising Fiat's true commitment to this new challenge. One of the biggest stars on the worldwide Rally-Raid scene, the irrepressible Frenchman is a Dakar winner and World Champion; squeezing his talent into the frame of the tiny Panda has been no mean feat for Fiat, names simply come no bigger on this event. The task of getting the Panda safely to Dakar on 21st January 2007 is a big one - but with Saby at the wheel they have a driver in place who can steering the little machine safely, a driver who knows every inch and every surface of this annual desert endurance adventure. "It's a completely new challenge for me," Saby told Italiaspeed earlier today, "I have won with Mitsubishi, and last year won the World Cup; so for this year, for me, this is a completely new project, it's a fantastic opportunity.

Fiat smallest car is the biggest star of the Fiat stand in Bologna; and complementing the exciting Panda Dakar and the new Panda 100HP, is yet another Panda-based show car, this time one which has been realised by Fiat Centro Style in conjunction with leading outdoor pursuits sportswear manufacturer, Dainese.

The rest of the Fiat production model range is on show also: the Sedici, Panda MY2007, Grande Punto and Croma MY2007 all lining up at the show. Fiat's commitment to motor sports is also in evidence: the rally-winning Super2000 Grande Punto is positioned next to a new low-cost rally machine, again based on the Grande Punto, and which is set to form a new "Trofeo" series next year. Finally the forthcoming 500 is alluded to with a pair of glittering spheres that are dedicated to a car set to arrive in less than a year's time.

by Edd Ellison in Bologna