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I believe it's a British phrase.

I found it in that website, as:

Fiat's Panda can offer an affordable route into 4x4 ownership. You just have to make it Cross.

If you happen to know more meanings except for the one example I've provided, please let me know.

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    Just to make it clear: Fiat Panda is the brand of a car.
    – apaderno
    Feb 14, 2011 at 12:17
  • It, here, probably refers to the fact that being a good on-road vehicle, Panda serves as an affordable 4 wheel drive vehicle. But, to check it out for real, you have to take it off-road (Cross Country kinds).
    – ikartik90
    Feb 14, 2011 at 12:52
  • It's not a British phrase: at least, not this Brit. I have had it explained to me (below), but I still can't say I understand it.
    – Colin Fine
    Feb 14, 2011 at 17:38
  • It makes a world of difference if the original quote had the word Cross with a capital C, as it seems.
    – Kris
    Jul 23, 2012 at 12:16

3 Answers 3

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It's a pun. "Make it cross" without context would mean "Make it angry"; but the second meaning here is "Make it a Fiat Panda Cross rather than just a Fiat Panda".

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  • Exactly what I was about to say
    – Matt E. Эллен
    Feb 14, 2011 at 13:35
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    It looks like a double pun, given the British children's joke "How do you make a Maltese Cross with only one match?" which suggests a mathematical construction puzzle but has the answer "Light his trousers."
    – Henry
    Feb 14, 2011 at 15:50
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This is a really weird marketing slogan.

The car (the Fiat Panda Cross) is meant to be an urban 4x4, which means it's good for urban driving, but it also has some off-road capability, so Panda Cross hints that it's cross-purpose (has multiple uses) and is a kind of cross (mongrel/mix breed).

So I guess you could say that 'make it cross' in this context either means push it to do more rugged, off-road things (make it angry?), or make it cross (over) from one driving environment to another.

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1

It's a play on words between make it cross [the route, the street, the path] and make it Cross, meaning to change to four-wheel drive, or change from gasoline to methane.

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    Is "make it Cross" meaning "change to four-wheel drive" familiar to you? Because it is completely unknown to me.
    – Colin Fine
    Feb 14, 2011 at 13:05
  • In this specific case, I would understand make it cross as make it change state, as in change from two-wheel drive to four-wheel drive.
    – apaderno
    Feb 14, 2011 at 13:28
  • @Colin Fine: it's only really meaningful in the context of the review (of the car).
    – Matt E. Эллен
    Feb 14, 2011 at 13:34

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