It's Panda-monium at Fiat this week, because the 2,000,000th second series Panda has rolled off the production line in Tychy, Poland.

Sold in 76 countries world-wide, the Panda was an instant success when it was released in 2003.

Its cute looks, high seating position and surprisingly spacious interior won it fans across the globe - including Top Gear's James May - and in the eight years since its launch it's gone from strength to strength, having also donated its platform to the Fiat and Abarth 500s, as well as the new Ford Ka.

The milestone 2,000,000th car was a Panda Cross model, finished in Pasodoble Red, and fitted with the ultra-frugal 1.3-litre 75bhp MultiJet diesel engine, which gives more than 65mpg on the combined cycle.

Amazingly, considering the scale of the sales figures, in the first six months of 2011 more than half of the Pandas produced were sold in Italy, but in the same period it was the highest-selling car in its sector in Europe, too.

There are plenty of good reasons why it's still so popular.

The notoriously fastidious German Automobile Club recently published a reliability league table, and the Panda came out top of the city car category. Small wonder it's such a big success!