Creating
eye catching one-off versions on the basis of the
last-generation Panda proved to be a very successful
marketing strategy and Fiat is now continuing this theme
with the new model, with the biggest and most extreme
unique version yet - the Panda Monster Truck, created by
fitting a Panda bodyshell onto a Jeep chassis and adding
huge tractor tyres.
The advertising slogan
that has accompanied the commercial launch of the model
says: 'New Panda, extremely Panda.' The new
third-generation Fiat city-car, thanks to the latest
digital technology employed by animated films,
'transformed' first into a nippy scooter and then a
spacious light cargo aircraft in the first commercials.
Now, to demonstrate
the off-road performance of the new Panda 4x4, Fiat has
chosen to adopt set-design techniques from the cinema
together with automotive tuning. And that's how the
Panda Monster Truck was created, a prototype built by
Fiat in collaboration with Mercurio Cinematografica, set
designer Andrea Faini and the Fabio Gementi Workshop.
The Monster Truck
version combines a Panda 4×4 with a Jeep CJ7 4200 floor
panel and features road tractor wheels with "High Speed"
tyres, 150 centimetres in diameter and 50 cm wide,
fitted with specially turned solid steel flanges.
The final result is a
'bigfoot' Panda, towering at 390 centimetres ('wither
height'), 380 cm long and 250 cm wide. It took just
over two weeks of work to build it, paying the utmost
care when connecting the steering system, clutch,
accelerator and brakes between the two cars.
Fully operational, the
Fiat Panda Monster Truck will star in the coming TV
commercial at the start of 2013. Created by the Leo
Burnett agency, it tells the story of four friends who
set off for a weekend in the mountains. The Panda 4×4,
transforming into a Monster Truck, climbs nimbly up to
the hostel, stunning everyone with its performance. And
when the driver, thinking he is on a normal Panda 4×4,
gets down from the car, he ends up falling two metres
onto a cushion of snow, to the laughter of his friends.