This is the Fiat Multiplay: an MPV, SUV and pickup all rolled into one

This is the Fiat Multiplay, a… play on the Italian company's classic Multipla nameplate that rolls up three different cars into one fun little concept.

So, for about the size of a Volvo XC40 or Nissan Leaf, you get an MPV (yay!), an SUV (nay!), and a pickup truck (wahey?) all contained within the bones of one chassis.

Perhaps mercifully, you won’t be able to buy anything like this – it’s not a “preview of a specific production model”, largely because one suspects attempting to produce something like this would be ruinously expensive and… yeah.

It’s all hinged – perhaps quite literally – around that changeable C-pillar which Fiat cornily calls ‘metamorfosi’. The rear slides back and forth to go from “enclosed family vehicle” to a pickup “in just a few moments”.

In full-on family MPV/SUV mode, there’s space for up to six people – just like the original 600 Multipla from 1956 and 1998’s uniquely-styled car – along with your treasured pet. And we’re assured the third row, which Fiat claims is normally “unusable” in modern family cars, can actually be used by both children and adults.

The front can morph into a sun lounger for when you’re parked up not doing DIY on the car, and when you do fancy doing some work on your car, you can move the C-pillar and turn it into a four-seater truck.

There’s a hidden display, soft-touch materials inside, colourways inspired by watermelons because why not, and – when in truck mode – the ability to store some bikes up top.

“Families’ needs are changing, and this concept allows us to explore solutions that change with them,” said Fiat boss Arnaud Belloni. “It is a laboratory of ideas for the future of the brand, centred on space, versatility and the Italian character that makes Fiat instantly recognisable.”