Fiat Multiplina: Tiny four-seater must lose weight to make production

Fiat has almost finalised the design of the Multiplina, its four-seat microcar – but it must shed weight before it can go on sale.

The new urban runabout made a surprise appearance at the Paris motor show, having previously been previewed in a single picture earlier this year.

Its styling has evolved since that image was first published, and Fiat's head of design, François Leboine, told Autocar that it's now "close to production".

Due on sale in 2028, the Multiplina is not a traditional car but instead a quadricycle, meaning it follows a different ruleset to be homologated for road use.

It's based on the Citroën Ami and Fiat Topolino, which sit in the L6e class so are restricted to 8bhp and a 28mph top speed. The Multiplina is being developed for L7e, which raises those limits to 20bhp and 56mph.

The L7e regulations allow a maximum weight “in running order” of just 450kg, which is an increase of only 25kg compared with L6e.

The Multiplina is essentially a stretched Ami, which already weighs a claimed 417kg. The addition of two more seats, more metal in its structure and a larger battery – for a longer range than the Ami's 46 miles – tips it over the allowed 450kg.

Leboine said: “The problem is the weight. L7 is still 450kg maximum. If you start from a Topolino, you add two people and you extend the chassis, you immediately increase the weight in every dimension. You quickly pass the limit.

“The exercise is to reduce weight: to find tricks and ideas to get rid of weight everywhere. It’s a bit like in a race car – and it's funny, because it's got nothing to do with racing. It's the same approach. If you can make a hole in a piece, you make a hole. It's really about reducing, reducing, reducing.”

Former Fiat boss Olivier François said recently that the Multiplina would “be super-important for us, because it's really the missing link between Topolino and the traditional city car”.

To that end, it will slot into the Italian brand's line-up between the Topolino and the 500.

The Multiplina concept takes its name from the 600 Multipla of 1956, which Fiat called the “original people mover”, but the firm also noted that it has a similar footprint to the 500 of 1957.

That would make it just under three metres in length, compared with 2.53m for the Topolino.

The styling of the new concept makes clear callbacks to the classic 600 Multipla, including the overall silhouette, vertical nose and round headlights.

François said it would “play a lot on our DNA and be rooted in our style”, adding that it shows that “Fiat will be the brand within Stellantis that will really go all in on micromobility”.

The expansion into ‘urban mobility vehicles’ – the category below full-sized cars – is part of Fiat’s continued focus on small and affordable vehicles, centred around the 500 and Panda, the latter of which continues to be sold in Italy.

The forthcoming Grizzly is a Dacia Duster-rivalling C-segment SUV and will be the largest vehicle the firm will produce.

The Topolino was launched three years ago in Italy but is only now being introduced in the UK, priced from £8995.

Commercial division Fiat Professional also now offers the Tris, a three-wheeled commercial delivery vehicle based on the same underpinnings.

What was the original Multipla?

The original 600 Multipla was produced from 1956 until 1967, with Fiat shifting around 240,000 examples.

Described by Autocar in 1957 as “one of the most original and ingenious small car designs to appear since the war”, it featured the drivetrain from the 600 and the front suspension from the 1100.

It measured just 3531mm long yet could seat six people, in part because of its boxy design (we wrote that “the outline of the Multipla is no more than a modified rectangle” but praised its “attractive, chunky look”) and the fact the driver’s seat was located directly above the front axle.

Fiat subsequently revived the Multipla name for a radically styled – and much larger – Bravo-based MPV in 1998.