Fiat 126 Vettura Urbana

Fiat 126 Vettura Urbana (or City Car, if translate) concept is the city car study. Unveiled in 1976, it was created for Fiat by the prolific Giovanni Michelotti. Despite its tiny footprint and Fiat 126 underpinnings, this vision of urban mobility was no toy.

Forget the Peugeot 1007 — this was the real pioneer of sliding doors in a city car. Or it would have been, had it ever reached production.

The doors were fully manual too, not those slow, motorized contraptions. Thanks to clever packaging, the Vettura Urbana concept ended up 26 cm shorter than the already tiny Fiat 126, yet somehow still squeezed in seating for four. Not bad at all.

As for what sat under the bonnet — technically nothing. Just like the standard 126, the engine lived at the back. It used the same tiny 594-cc straight-two with 23 bhp and 29 lb ft of torque.

The 126 itself was a quirky marvel, oddly adored in Poland. Built from 1972 all the way to 2000, it sold more than 4.5 million units worldwide.

So why didn’t the Fiat 126 Vettura Urbana make it to production? Fiat’s city-car lineup in the 1970s was already crowded, and there simply wasn’t space for another model, no matter how small or clever.