My point is that in the mountains around the fiat plant the most popular car was the fiat panda 4x4. It got a reputation for just getting through whatever conditions it encountered. I had also heard that they were good cars for country use. Plus panda cars are known for longevity too. Dear John column in the DT when I was a kid asked for readers with high mileage cars to write in with mileage and model. In the top 5 fiat panda counted 2 or 3 iirc.
I won't disagree with you about the capability of 4x4 FIAT Pandas on the rough stuff - in 2013 a mildly modified one drove from Cape Town to London in just under 11 days (FWIW it took me nearly three and a half years!);
http://www.evo.co.uk/fiat/panda/13010/fiat-panda-beats-the-cape-town-to-london-record
and can embarrass a Defender in the mud;
but I would have to take issue with them being "known for their longevity" - a GF had one back in the early 1990s and I swear that you could see the rust eating the bodywork in realtime! Maybe things have changed but FIAT auto-electrics still have a shaky reputation.
Not sure that this is of much help to the OP though!