Fiat Panda 4x4 (2012) first official pictures

Fiat's Panda has donned its wellington boots to create the Panda 4x4, the only baby SUV in the city car A-segment. It's one of the premieres bound for the 2012 Paris motor show.

It's the third-generation of Panda 4x4 and appears some 30 years after the original. Why does Fiat persist with it? Because it sells strongly in the Alpine territories, such as northern Italy and other mountainous markets.

The new Panda SUV is 3680mm long, 1670mm wide and 1600mm tall - that's a notch below the relatively hefty Mini Countryman for instance.

It takes the regular Panda bodyshell and beefs it up with the usual cladding front, side and rear as well as M&S all-seasons tyres and an array of electronic traction and stability aids for some actual off-road credentials.

The Panda 4x4 is a full-time 4wd car, whose torque-on-demand transmission uses a pair of differentials and an electronically controlled coupling to shuffle drive to the axle which needs traction. It's all automatic with nothing as scary as a diff lock to bamboozle drivers.

Just two engines will be offered in the new Panda SUV: the latest 85bhp 0.9-litre TwinAir turbo engine or the 75bhp 1.3 Multijet diesel, both with stop-start.

Standard equipment on the Panda 4x4 includes climate control system, CD/MP3 radio, 15in burnished alloy wheels and remote locking.

Launching at Paris alongside the Panda 4x4 is the Panda Trekking - a two-wheel drive model with some of the styling accoutrements of the 4wd model. Hunter wellies in town, in other words.

By Tim Pollard