Fiat is bringing the Multipla name back on a tiny electric four-seater called the Multiplina, which it showed at the Paris Motor Show this month and plans to put on sale in 2028.
Fiat hasn't given a price, but Auto Express expects around £14,000, which would put it between the £8,995 Topolino two-seater and a Fiat 500 Hybrid at about £19,000. A UK launch isn't confirmed yet, and the catch is that it's legally a heavy quadricycle, which means lighter crash-test rules than a normal car and a top speed of 55mph.
If the name makes you wince, you're probably thinking of the 1998 Multipla, the bug-eyed MPV with three seats across the front that the Telegraph ranked the second-ugliest car ever made (even Jeremy Clarkson came round to how much room there was inside).
The Multiplina takes its looks from the much prettier 600 Multipla of 1956, a six-seat people carrier just over 3.5 metres long that sold about 240,000 between 1956 and 1967, according to Autocar, so you get round headlights and a bubble-shaped profile instead of that famous step below the windscreen.
Fiat Multiplina price and specs
The £14,000 figure is an estimate, so treat it as a guide, and Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore reckons it could start nearer Topolino money, with extras taking it up to about €12,000, so it may yet come in cheaper.
At 3.04 metres long and 1.40 metres wide it's a proper squeeze-into-any-gap size, and Fiat claims a top speed of 55mph, about double the Topolino's 28mph, which is enough to keep up on faster town roads and ring roads. Fiat hasn't given a battery size or a range, only that it'll go further than the Topolino's 46 miles.
Fiat boss Olivier François calls it "the missing link" between two-seat quadricycles and proper small electric cars, and the car had a different name until recently, having been shown in June as the Quattrolino before Fiat ran into Audi's long-held trademark on "quattro".
Who can drive the Fiat Multiplina?
Because it's a heavy quadricycle, you'll need a full car licence or a B1 licence, which you can get from 17. That's a step up from the Topolino and the Citroën Ami, which are light quadricycles that a 16-year-old can drive on an AM moped licence, so the Multiplina won't be the first set of wheels for a teenager that the Topolino is pitched as.
Is the Fiat Multiplina safe?
This is what we'd want answered before putting three passengers in one. Quadricycles don't have to meet the same crash-test standards as normal cars, which is a big part of how makers keep them small and cheap, and Fiat hasn't said anything yet about what protection the Multiplina will offer.
Its 55mph top speed is plenty around town, but on a fast dual carriageway with lorries thundering past, a three-metre car built to lighter safety rules is going to feel very small indeed.
What else could you buy for £14,000?
The price is the Multiplina's biggest problem, because two proper electric cars already cost less. The Dacia Spring starts at £11,990 after Dacia cut its price in July, and the Leapmotor T03 is £12,995 including Leapmotor's own £3,000 discount, and both are five-door cars that will happily do motorway speeds, with claimed ranges of up to 140 and 165 miles.
Citroën is also bringing back the 2CV in 2028 as an electric city car expected to cost under £15,000, and if that arrives as a proper car for similar money it'll make the Multiplina a hard sell.
Is the Fiat Multiplina coming to the UK?
Fiat hasn't said. It only opened UK orders for the Topolino in July, which suggests it sees a market here for tiny electric cars, but it has also ruled out some Topolino versions for Britain, and the Multiplina would need right-hand drive, which Fiat hasn't mentioned.
What we like
• Four seats in a car just over three metres long
• Styling that will make people smile, and a name everyone remembers
• An expected price well under a Fiat 500 Hybrid
What worries us
• Lighter crash-test rules than a normal car
• The Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03 already cost less, and they're proper cars
• No UK launch, range or final price confirmed, and it's two years away
Verdict
The Multiplina is the most likeable thing Fiat has shown in years, and it does something the Topolino can't, which is carry four people at speeds that won't hold up the bus behind you. But at the expected £14,000 it would cost more than a Dacia Spring or Leapmotor T03 you can buy today, both built to full crash-test rules, so unless Fiat prices it much closer to the Topolino, we'd spend the money on one of those and enjoy the Multiplina from the pavement.