Browse
Log in / Register
Share
May 9, 2026 — Fiat has taken the wraps off a new concept called the Multiplay, bringing the Multipla name back in a rather unexpected form. The design study uses a sliding rear body section to turn a tall, SUV-like minivan into a compact pickup. Fiat has yet to say whether it will be built, but the concept is a clear statement about how one family vehicle could handle several roles.
Fiat knows a thing or two about multi-purpose packaging. The 1956 Fiat 600 Multipla could carry six adults in a footprint that was barely 3.5 meters long. It was a workhorse on Italian streets and a reminder that small cars can be remarkably practical, even if their safety standards would raise a few eyebrows today.
The 1998 Multipla took a very different path. Its bulbous body and unconventional face divided opinion, but the interior pleased families with a low floor, flat seats and enormous space in a compact footprint. The car never reached American showrooms, but its looks made it an internet favorite long after production ended. The new Multiplay concept taps into that strange affection while avoiding the old car’s awkward exterior—at least at the front.
The Multiplay’s headline feature is a rear module that slides along the body. In its closed state, the vehicle behaves like a compact MPV, with room for six passengers and a seventh pet-oriented seat. Fiat calls that seat the Petsenger. It is a modular unit that can be used by a dog or swapped for a child-safety-seat mount. A detachable section of the seat’s turquoise base becomes a leash, and a folding water bowl lives in a door compartment.
Fiat says the rearmost part of the enclosed cabin is comfortable enough for two children or even an adult. If cargo is the priority, the same roof section slides forward and opens the tail into a pickup-style bed. There is space for camping gear or a pair of bicycles, and the integrated roof spoiler does double duty as a bike rack.
That transformation is mechanically simpler than it sounds because the roof panel is not removed and stored elsewhere. The entire section moves as one unit, which solves one of the biggest complaints about earlier modular cars: what to do with the parts you take off.
The concept’s debut outfit is bright green, an homage to the outside of a watermelon. Inside, red-and-pink accents evoke the fruit’s flesh and inject a dose of Italian summer. It may not be subtle, but it gives the Multiplay a friendly identity that matches its family-focused mission.
Up front, the dashboard takes a minimalist route. A horizontal strip is said to be inspired by the Mediterranean horizon, where sea and sky meet. A display is hidden in the strip and only appears when the car is powered on, reinforcing the back-to-basics theme. The exterior borrows the last Multipla’s love of pixels with a horizontal LED light bar beneath the windshield and round daytime-running lights set in a chunky bumper.
Fiat has not published a single powertrain figure for the Multiplay. That silence is telling. The concept has a stubby nose, short overhangs and a long wheelbase—proportions that make room for a battery under the floor, not a combustion engine under the hood. If it were to enter production, the most logical basis would be a Stellantis EV platform. The group already uses its STLA Small architecture for small electric models such as the Fiat Grande Panda and the Jeep Avenger, and that platform’s flexible packaging would fit the Multiplay’s dimensions nicely.
There is a caveat: a sliding body module adds weight, seals, locks and structural reinforcement. If Fiat ever launches this thing, engineers will have to keep the mechanism simple enough for daily use and robust enough for years of ownership. As any designer of convertible roofs will tell you, complexity is the enemy of reliability.
Fiat is not the first brand to chase the shape-shifting family car. Citroën did it in 2003 with the C3 Pluriel. That small city car could theoretically be a hatchback, a convertible or a roadster-style pickup, all by folding seats and removing roof rails.
The theory was better than the reality. The Pluriel’s multi-piece roof had a reputation for leaks, rattles and mechanical trouble. The roof rails were awkward to remove, and there was nowhere clever to put them once they were off. Many owners simply left the rails installed and treated the car as an ordinary cabriolet. The Multiplay learns from that mistake by sliding its roof module rather than unclipping it. But the Pluriel story shows that versatility alone does not sell cars; it has to be dependable.
There is another reason for caution. The second Multipla found its biggest fan base in Italy; elsewhere, the styling kept many buyers away. When production ended in 2010, it had no direct successor. Modern carmakers are conservative with family models because SUVs dominate the market, and a Multiplay with a sliding roof would be a much harder engineering story to sell than another compact crossover.
The Multiplay is arriving at an interesting moment. Small pickups are booming in the United States, where vehicles like the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz have shown that buyers want compact utility without a huge truck. Electric family vehicles are also becoming more common in Europe, and Stellantis is pushing hard to turn its ultra-compact brands into electric-only lines.
A production Multiplay would still be an unusual bet. It would be bigger than a city car, smaller than a traditional SUV and far more flexible on paper than anything in its class. That flexibility could be exactly what a young family wants—or it could be an expensive niche that most customers appreciate more in theory than in practice.
As of May 9, 2026, Fiat is calling the Multiplay a design study and has not announced a production plan. The concept is a way to start a conversation about modular family transport, and it uses the Multipla’s heritage to give that conversation a warm, familiar name. If enough people react the way Fiat hopes, the Multiplay could become more than a watermelon-colored showpiece.
For now, the Multipla story has a new chapter. It’s a minivan, an SUV and a pickup in one package—and, for once, the most interesting family car of the year is the one with the sliding roof.
