Fiat Panda To Make Cross-Channel Swim

LONDON - July 20, 2006: Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, at around 8.30am, GMT,

a new breed of nautical Panda will be clambering into the sea at Folkestone, Kent; not merely to escape our heatwave by cooling off in the water, but with every intention of reaching the French coast and then driving all the way home to Italy!

This Panda’s creator is Milan born Maurizio Zanisi, an independent former Iso Rivolta engineer, and his self-built Panda Terramare 4 is based on a Panda 4x4 chassis, but with an inflatable flotation belt, and waterjet propulsion driven off the rear axle.

Panda Terramare 4 is no stranger to water, and it has already been spotted frolicking in the great Italian lakes, (Como and Maggiore), the River Po, and the Mediterranean off Sardinia. Its longest sea journey to date has been a return trip from Naples to Capri – a journey of some 25 miles. The Channel, however, will be its greatest test to date.