FIAT Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as FIAT ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. FIAT Automobiles was formed in January 2007 when FIAT Group reorganized its automobile business, and traces its history back to 1899, when the first FIAT automobile, the FIAT 3½ HP, was produced.
It became a part of FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) when the FIAT Group merged with the US Chrysler Group in 2014. Subsequently, in 2021 it became a subsidiary of Stellantis, the new holding company born from FCA's merge with the French Peugeot SA.
FIAT Automobiles is the largest automobile manufacturer in Italy. During its more than century-long history, it remained the largest automobile manufacturer in Europe and the third in the world after General Motors and Ford for over 20 years, until the car industry crisis in the late 1980s. In 2013, FIAT was the second-largest European automaker by volumes produced and the seventh in the world, while FCA was the world's eighth-largest automaker.
In 1970, FIAT Automobiles employed more than 100,000 in Italy when its production reached the highest number, 1.4 million cars, in that country. As of 2002, it built more than 1 million vehicles at six plants in Italy and the country accounted for more than a third of the company's revenue. FIAT has also manufactured railway engines, military vehicles, farm tractors, aircraft, and weapons such as the FIAT-Revelli Modello 1914.
FIAT-brand cars are built in several locations around the world. Outside Italy, the largest country of production is Brazil, where the FIAT brand was the market leader for many years. The group also has factories in Argentina, Poland and Mexico (where FIAT-brand vehicles are manufactured at plants owned and operated by Stellantis North America for export to the United States, Brazil, Italy and other markets) and a long history of licensing manufacture of its products in other countries.
FIAT Automobiles has received many international awards for its vehicles, including nine European Car of the Year awards, the most of any other manufacturer, and it ranked many times as the lowest level of emissions by vehicles sold in Europe.
History
On 11 July 1899, Giovanni Agnelli was part of the group of founding members of FIAT, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino. The first FIAT plant opened in 1900 with 35 staff making 24 cars. Known from the beginning for the talent and creativity of its engineering staff, by 1903 Fiat made a small profit and produced 135 cars; this grew to 1,149 cars by 1906. The company then went public selling shares via the Milan stock exchange.
Giovanni Agnelli led the company until his death in 1945, while Vittorio Valletta administered the firm's daily activities. Its first car, the 3 ½ HP (of which only 24 copies were built, all bodied by Alessio of Turin) was based on a design purchased from Ceirano GB & C and had a boxer twin engine. In 1903, FIAT produced its first truck. In 1908, the first FIAT was exported to the US. That same year, the first FIAT aircraft engine was produced. Also around the same time, FIAT taxis became popular in Europe.
By 1910, FIAT was the largest automotive company in Italy. That same year, a new plant was built in Poughkeepsie, NY, by the newly founded American FIAT Automobile Company. In the year 1911, 1,800 automobiles and 400 trucks were produced in Italy. Owning a FIAT at that time was a sign of distinction. The cost of a FIAT in the US was initially $4,000 and rose to $6,400 in 1918,Kimes/Clark (1985), p. 39 compared to $825 and $525 for a Ford Model T in 1908Kimes/Clark (1985), p. 551 and 1918Kimes/Clark (1985), p. 556 respectively. During World War I, FIAT had to devote all of its factories to supplying the Allies with aircraft, engines, machine guns, trucks, and ambulances. Upon the entry of the US into the war in 1917, the factory was shut down as US regulations became too burdensome (the site was eventually sold to Western Publishing). After the war, FIAT introduced its first tractor, the 702. By the early 1920s, FIAT had a market share in Italy of 80%.
In 1921, workers seized FIAT's plants and hoisted the red flag of communism over them. Agnelli responded by quitting the company. However, the Italian Socialist Party and its ally organization, the Italian General Confederation of Labour, in an effort to effect a compromise with the centrist parties ordered the occupation ended. In 1922, FIAT began to build the famous Lingotto car factory—then the largest in Europe—which opened in 1923. It was the first FIAT factory to use assembly lines; by 1925, FIAT controlled 87% of the Italian car market.Georgano, p.151 In 1928, with the 509, FIAT included insurance in the purchase price.Georgano, p.8
FIAT made military machinery and vehicles during World War II for the Army and Regia Aeronautica and later for the Germans. FIAT made fighter aircraft like the biplane CR.42 Falco, which was one of the most common Italian aircraft, along with Savoia-Marchettis, as well as light tanks (obsolete compared to their German and Soviet counterparts) and armored vehicles. The best FIAT aircraft was the G.55 fighter, which arrived too late and in too limited numbers.
In March 1943 the company's Turin plants were the origin of the first mass strikes in wartime Italy, which began at Mirafiori on 5 March and spread across northern Italy.
Later that year, after Benito Mussolini was overthrown, the National Liberation Committee removed the Agnelli family from leadership roles in FIAT because of its ties to Mussolini's government. They were not returned until 1963, when Giovanni's grandson, Gianni, took over as general manager until 1966, and as chairman until 1996.
In 1970, FIAT employed more than 100,000 in Italy when its production reached the highest number, 1.4 million cars, in that country. As of 2002, FIAT built more than 1 million vehicles at six plants in Italy and the country accounted for more than a third of the company's revenue.
Towards the end of 1976, it was announced that the Libyan government was to take a shareholding in the company in return for a capital injection. Other aspects of the Libyan agreement included the construction of a truck and bus plant at Tripoli. Chairman Agnelli candidly described the deal as "a classic petro-money recycling operation which will strengthen the Italian reserves, provide FIAT with fresh capital and give the group greater tranquility in which to carry out its investment programmes".
On 29 January 2014, it was announced that FIAT Group was to be merged with Chrysler Group into a new holding company FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). On 1 August 2014, FIAT Group received the necessary shareholder approval to proceed with the merger, which became effective on 12 October 2014.
In 2021, FCA merged with the French manufacturer PSA Group, with the new conglomerate being named Stellantis.
Leadership Giovanni Agnelli (1899–1945) Vittorio Valletta (1946–1966) Gianni Agnelli (1966–1996) Paolo Cantarella (1996–2002) Giuseppe Morchio (2003–2004) Sergio Marchionne (2004–2018) Mike Manley (2018–2021) Olivier François (2021–present)
Presence
Europe
FIAT's main market is Europe, mainly focused on Italy. Historically successful in building city cars and superminis, currently FIAT has a range of models focused on those two segments (accounting for the 84% of its sales in 2011). FIAT does not currently offer any large family cars, nor executive cars: these market segments are to some extent covered by the Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands, which Stellantis also owns.
FIAT's share of the European market shrank from 9.4 percent in 2000 to 5.8 percent in the summer of 2004. At this point Sergio Marchionne was appointed as FIAT's chief executive. By March 2009 its market share had expanded to 9.1 percent. Marchionne introduced an informal climate and reduced the links in the chain of command from nine to five. He unilaterally decided to leave the FIAT group from Confindustria and Federmeccanica, and to cancel the national collective labor agreement in the engineering sector by starting separate negotiations with some trade union organizations for a new specific company agreement in the automotive sector, starting from the Pomigliano production plant.
FIAT built its five-story Lingotto plant between 1915 and 1918, at which time it was Europe's largest car manufacturing plant. Later the Mirafiori plant was built, also in Turin. To prepare for the production of the all-new FIAT 128, FIAT opened its Rivalta plant in October 1968. Until the 128 entered production, the plant was used to build sports versions of the 850 and 124 as well as parts for the FIAT Dino.
FIAT's 2018 range of passenger car engines comprised eleven units, eight petrols and three diesels. Their current range of models is the following: Quadricycle: FIAT Topolino City car: Fiat 500, FIAT Panda Subcompact car: FIAT Grande Panda Mini SUV: FIAT 600 Compact SUV : FIAT Grizzly Mini MPV: FIAT Qubo L Large MPV: FIAT Ulysse
FIAT sales in 2011 were up to 676,704 (less 17.3% versus the previous year).
Model 2011 sales FIAT Punto 220,343 FIAT Panda 189,527 FIAT 500 156,301 FIAT Linea 35,499 FIAT Bravo 31,673 FIAT Sedici 14,777 FIAT Freemont 13,651 FIAT Albea 8,951 FIAT Idea 5,982
Light commercial vehicles are sold in Europe under the brand FIAT Professional.
FIAT was already exporting cars to the UK market by the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Its market share increased rapidly during the 1970s, with the 127 supermini and 128 range of small family cars being the biggest sellers, selling largely on practicality and efficiency. FIAT's market share increased further during the 1980s with the FIAT Uno (imported to the UK from June 1983) being the company's best-seller in the UK, and its share fell sharply in the early 1990s before the arrival of the Punto in March 1994 rejuvenated the company's UK fortunes.
The second-generation Punto was a strong seller in the UK after its October 1999 launch, but the new modern-day FIAT 500 (launched there in January 2008) has accounted for most of the company's UK sales in more recent years. The original FIAT 500 had been one of the few direct competitors for the iconic Mini during its 1960s heyday.
South America
FIAT has long invested in South America, mainly in Brazil (where FIAT has been the market leader for many years) and in Argentina. It built its first Brazilian car plant in the Greater Belo Horizonte city of Betim in 1973, after initially assembling tractors there. The Brazilian range is similar to the European one, with the addition of a special family which derives from a common platform (called "Project 178"): Palio, Siena, Palio Weekend and Strada. Recently a range of new models developed in Brazil has been launched: Pulse, Fiorino, Toro, Argo, and Mobi. Other European models are currently imported to Brazil: 500e, imported from Italy, and Cronos, imported from Argentina.
FIAT sells in Brazil under the FIAT brand, European FIAT Professional light commercial vehicles as: Strada (developed in Brazil, has the same platform as the Palio from "Project 178") Ducato
Models that have already been sold in Brazil:
Uno Linea Tipo Tempra Prêmio Elba Idea Punto Marea Bravo 147 (and its family: the saloon Oggi and the estate Panorama) Doblò
North America
In 1908, the FIAT Automobile Co. was established in the United States with a factory in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., began producing FIATs a year later, like the FIAT 60 HP and the FIAT 16-20 HP. These were luxury cars. The New Jersey factory was closed after the U.S. entered World War I in 1917.