Tracing the history of Fiat

which are cars from the Fiat family, Italy’s largest car maker.
As a result I have decided to focus on the history and developments behind this great brand that has a significant market share in Europe.
Fiat S.p.A. is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (English: Italian Automobile Factory of Turin. It is an Italian car manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial and industrial group based in Turin, Piedmont region.
Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli. Fiat has also manufactured railroad vehicles, tanks and aircraft.
Giovanni Agnelli founded Fiat in 1899 with several investors and led the company until his death in 1945, while Vittorio Valletta administered the firm’s daily activities. Its first car – the 3 ½ CV (of which only eight copies were built, all bodied by Alessio of Turin) – strongly resembled contemporary Benz, and had a 697 cc (42.5 cu in) boxer twin engine.
In 1903, Fiat produced its first truck and in 1908, the first Fiat was exported to the US.
That same year, the first Fiat aircraft engine was produced. Around the same time, Fiat taxis became somewhat popular in Europe.
By 1910, Fiat was the largest automotive company in Italy – a position it has retained since.
That same year, a plant licensed to produce Fiats in Poughkeepsie, New York, made its first car.
This was before the introduction of Ford’s assembly line in 1913. Owning a Fiat at that time was a sign of distinction.
The cost of a Fiat in the US was between US$3 600 and US$8 600, compared to US$825 the Model T in 1908.
Fiat made military machinery and vehicles during World War II for the Army and Regia Aeronautica and later for the Germans.
Among the younger Agnelli’s first steps after gaining control of Fiat was a massive reorganisation of the company management, which had previously been highly centralised, with little provision for the delegation of authority and decision-making.
Such a system was effective in the past, but lacked the responsiveness and flexibility needed by Fiat’s steady expansion, and the growth of its international operations in the 1960s.
The company was reorganised on a product-line basis, with two main product groups – one for passenger cars, the other for trucks and tractors – and a number of semi-independent division and subsidiaries.
In 1967, Fiat made its first acquisition when it purchased Autobianchi; with sales amounting to US$1,7 billion, it outstripped Volkswagen, its main European competitor, and in 1968 produced some 1 750 000 vehicles while its sales volume climbed to US$2,1 billion.
According to Newsweek in 1968, Fiat was “the most dynamic carmaker in Europe . . . (and) may come closest to challenging the worldwide supremacy of Detroit.”
Then, in 1969, it purchased controlling interests in Ferrari and Lancia. At the time, Fiat was a conglomerate, owning Alitalia, toll highways, a typewriter and office machine manufacturer, electronics and electrical equipment firms, a paint company, a civil engineering firm, and an international construction company.
In 1979, the company became a holding company when it spun off its various businesses into autonomous companies, one of them being Fiat Auto.
That same year, sales reached an all-time high in the US, corresponding to the Iranian Oil Crisis.
However, when gas prices fell again after 1981, Americans began purchasing sport utility vehicles, minivans, and pickup trucks in larger numbers (marking a departure from their past preference for large cars).
Japanese car makers had been taking an ever-larger share of the car market, increasing at more than half a percent a year.
Consequently, in 1984, Fiat and Lancia withdrew from the United States market. In 1989, it did the same in the Australian market, although it remained in New Zealand. In 1986, Fiat acquired Alfa Romeo from the Italian government. Also, in 1986, 15 percent of Fiat company stock was still owned by Libya, an investment dating back to the mid-seventies.
US foreign policy under President Ronald Reagan’s administration cancelled a Pentagon contract to produce earth movers with Fiat and pressured the company into brokering a buy out of the Libyan investment.
In 1992, two top corporate officials in the Fiat Group were arrested for political corruption.
A year later, Fiat acquired Maserati. In 1995 Alfa Romeo exited the US market.
Maserati re-entered the US market under Fiat in 2002. Since then, Maserati sales there have been increasing briskly.
As of 2009, Fiat (excluding Chrysler) is the world’s ninth largest car maker as well as Italy’s largest carmaker. Fiat cars are now manufactured in various plants built around the world. The largest number produced outside Italy are built in Brazil, where they are best-sellers. It also has factories in Argentina and Poland. Fiat has a long history of licensing its products to other countries.
Joint venture operations are found in Italy, France, Turkey, India, Pakistan, China, Serbia and Russia. Agnelli’s grandson Gianni Agnelli was Fiat chairman from 1966 until 1996, and honourary chairman from then until his death on 24 January 2003.
In September 2010, shareholders approved a plan to split Fiat’s industrial businesses from the group.
Truck manufacturer Iveco, farm gear maker CNH Global NV and the industrial part of Fiat Powertrain Technologies were demerged into a new entity, Fiat Industrial, at the beginning of the year.
So you see Fiat doesn’t just make pretty cars they make mean machines as well.
Fiat cars range from small city cars to sports cars made by Ferrari, and vans and trucks such as the Ducato.
Besides Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A, the Fiat Group automotive companies include Ferrari S.p.A. and Maserati S.p.A.
The Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. companies include: Abarth and C. S.p.A., Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A., Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., Fiat Professional and Lancia Automobiles S.p.A.. Ferrari S.p.A. is 90 percent owned by the Fiat Group.
The European Car of the Year award, Europe’s premier automotive trophy for the past 40 years, has been awarded twelve times to the Fiat Group, more than any other manufacturer.
Most recently the Fiat Nuova 500 has won the award for European Car of the Year 2008.
The hot and spunky 500 is available here in Harare.
Handy history from yours truly . . . please make use of it and save a bit of money.
Till next week . . . happy motoring.
l Fact D. Jeke is a motoring enthusiast who has attended auto shows, rallies and has written for various publications in the region for the last decade. She can be contacted via email on [email protected]