Who owns Fiat?- Full History

 “Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino”

Fiat Motors is an Italian Automotive Manufacturer currently owned by Fiat Chrysler Group and having subsidiaries with Stellantis North America. It started in 1899 by Italian Businessman Giovanni Agnelli with a group of other businessmen who wanted to have their Italian Brand as an Automotive Leader. Let’s have a look into the history of Fiat Motors. Today’s topic- Who owns Fiat?                                                                                                                                            

History of FIAT- (Fiat logo)

Started in 1899 with the help of a group of businessmen and Giovanni Agnelli as CEO of the Company FIAT began the production of their first indigenous car FIAT 3^1/2 HP manufactured only 26 vehicles in the duration of (1899-1900) 

It was one of the kinds of cars that had a Twin-cylinder boxer engine having 697ccs, situated in the rear seat, which works on Chain-system engineered by Aristide Faccioli.  

• After the launch of their car, Fiat started to get the attention they started manufacturing, Trucks, Aircraft Engine and started to export their vehicles in the USA by 1908
• By the year 1910, Fiat becomes one of the giant Automotive Industries in Italy.
• By the time Fiat also started serving the military by providing them Military vehicles with Guns, Trucks, Aircraft, Fi helped vehicle sales. Italian Army, Germans.

Fiat being the sign of Prosperity and High class

The craze of Fiat was that much high at that time people were ready to purchase it even having very high price compared to other automotive manufacturers in the country, later it becomes a symbol for people; anyone who has Fiat in the Garage considers competing as High class in the society

What happened between Fiat and the USA?

Relationship with the USA for Fiat was cumbersome; during World War 1, Fiat devoted all of its factories to its allies to produce, weapons, Armored vehicles, Aircraft which deliver to Italy, Germany, Austria, and Russia to which the USA wasn’t much happy with this move. Eventually, Fiat had to sell their factory because of US regulations and sell it to Western Publications.

Fiat and the Army

• Fiat Manufactured military arsenals from Light Tanks to Military Aircrafts in Collaboration with Savoia-Marchetti, which produced warplanes like the Fiat G.55 Centauro and the Fiat CR.42 Falco.
• Fiat served these Military vehicles for The Italian army and The Royal Italian Air Force.

Fiat and its ownerships

• 1899- Giovanni Agnelli Started FIAT
• 1945-After the death of Agnelli, Vittori Valletta administered as the new director
• 1976-Libyan Government was Interested in becoming a shareholder in the company
• 2014-Fiat married Chrysler Group
• 2021-Fiat becomes part of a subsidiary of American Company Stellaris, 

Current Production of Fiat

Fiat has opened Multiple Factories in many countries like

• Italy- One of the giant four factories of Fiat situated in Turin
• USA- After Shutting down their operations in 1917, Fiat reestablished themselves again in 2011
• Brazil
• Argentina
• India
• Serbia

Highly sold FIATs

Starting from the 19^th Century to the late 20s, FIAT has some of the highest value production cars.

• The Fiat 3^1/2 – First Mass-Market Car by Fiat Having Dual Cylinder Boxer Engine produced only 26 Cars till 1900.

• Fiat Tipo- This was launched in 1910, giving new options for the buyers. Having models from (1 to 6) consisting of changes in Power, Displacement, WheelBase, its base model started with 12HP to 60HP in Highest model which consisted four cylinder engine.
  
• Fiat 508 Topolino- It was the smallest mass-market car, with a rounded headlight and petite body with very aggressive pricing. This car was selling like bread and butter; to its lifetime, 500,000 Topolino sold.

• Fiat 8V- Launched in 1952, Fiat started to take bold moves towards the US and Europe Market. They worked on the 8V by giving it an all-independent suspension and an 8V Engine, producing 105-125HP of power.

• Fiat 600- This was the 1^st Fiat to reach the millionth mark in sales, it caused the mass motorization, presented in 1955 these small cars consisted of 663cc engines mounted on the rear side, being two doored four-seater car

• Fiat Dino-Most mighty Fiat of that era comprised a 2.0L V6 Engine manufactured by Ferrari with rear-wheel drive. Its name after Enzo Ferrari’s son Dino. This car was used in rallies and F2 Motorsports due to its high-performance engine.

• Fiat Punto- One of the Highest selling, Modern Hatchbacks to this date, comes with 6speed manual gearbox and auto gearbox with modern facilities launched to replace Fiat UNO.

FIAT Chrysler Group Subsidiaries

The Company divided Into 2 Groups FCA Italy and FCA US

• FCA Italy consisted- Abarth, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat
• FCA USA consisted- Dodge, RAM, Chrysler, Jeep

It was done after 2014 when both of the companies were interested in changing their names.

FCA and Stellantis group merge

Formed in 2021 as 50-50 cross border Italian American Partnership which consisted of FCA(Fiat Chrysler Group) and PSA Group(Peugeot SA)  due to this linking, Stellantis became the 6^th Major car manufacturer in the world. 

Sales and Future Plans

Total Sales Including America and Europe were

 

           (Europe)                                                          (America)

• In 2014, FCA released a press note stating their five-year plans to expand their family and performance cars business. They raised their milestone by expecting to sell 7 million cars with 132 billion dollar revenue and expand their business with their subsidiary brands
• Alfa Romeo and Dodge keep competing. with the performance range of Vehicles like BMW, Mercedes
• Maserati kept for Luxury Line
• And kept well-known JEEP for Family Line Business
• Currently, the company is working towards EVs

Highly Sold cars by the FCA Group

• JEEP- COMPASS- 143,934 UNITS   GRAND CHEROKEE-242,969 UNITS      WRANGLER-228,032 UNITS
• RAM- 703,023 UNITS
• DODGE- CHALLENGER- 60,997 UNITS      CHARGER-96,935 UNITS
• ALFA ROMEO-18,292 UNITS

Fiat Market worldwide

Europe-One of the biggest market and home to the carmaker in Italy, Fiat is highly purchased in Europe. That’s why Fiat has built three production buildings in Italy. One of them being the largest plant at that time in Europe situated in Lingotto

America– It was a real pain for the brand as it was once the leader. Still, soon it becomes one of the most deficient brands in terms of reliability and service, which led to poor sales, ultimately leaving the United States.

Asia- Fiat never considered this market vital as it keeps the European market; they only imported two models in China. Still, in 2012, Fiat ventured with GAC and produced cars for the Chinese Market like the DODGE DART and PANADA.

     – IN INDIA- FIAT ventured with TATA motors, but the sales were the only downside. They only offered Punto and Linea               as leading cars, which led to the decline, and ultimately, they leave India

Electrification

• The company is working towards EVs for a long time. They have shown many prototypes in car shows like the FIAT Phylla and Bugster.
• After the Launch of the Tesla Model 3 Company President stated that if they can bring profit after producing such a car at a meager cost, then we will be working on the same concept
• The company is also working on Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Fiat Motorad and Race

Fiat is a known name in the motor. as they are there for a long time from the 1970s World Rally Championship with the Fiat 124 Sport Spider to Fiat Punto and Grande Punto till 2011 winning European Championship

Awards

• Award For Very Less Co₂ Emissions
• European Car of the year 12 times
• Jeep Grand Cherokee as Best Family car for the year 2021

Controversies and Problems

• Emission Fraud-This Controversy began when authorities raided the office of FCA in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. It alleged that FCA was using defeat devices to manipulate the emissions from the car; engines used by Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Fiat was suspect in this raid. It founded that more than 200,000 cars with defeat devices in their engine management software.

                      “In 2019, FCA agreed to a settlement worth $800 million to resolve claims”    –   (source- Am online)

• Sales Fraud- In Mid 2016, Lawsuits were filed against  FCA, claiming FCA were paying some of the dealers in the USA to create false sales, which will show growth in the US markets- However; The group denied such allegation by the dealer
• Jeep Cherokee Hacked- Wired Magazine published this news, 2 Software engineers hacked into the Jeep Cherokee system and having complete control over the car. The automaker immediately released a patch for this fix. There was no real-time case of hacking of the Jeep system, stated the FCA Group.

QnA

Q. What led Chrysler and Fiat to become partners?

Ans. As the sales were plummeting, the company was about to file bankruptcy, but being in partnership revived the company and helped produce the cars.

Q. Which companies cames under the FCA and PSA Group?

Ans.Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, RAM.

Q. Will, we see any Electric or Tesla rival shortly?

Ans. Yes, The company is working towards electrification and is building an EV station and company also stated they would start production of EVs from late 2021

Links

• Fiat – Wikipedia
• Fiat offices raided over diesel emissions fraud claims – BBC News
• Diesel emissions scandal – Wikipedia
• A Brief History of Fiat and Its Century of Automaking (fiatusaofscottsdale.com)
• Images with courtesy of FCA Group PVT limited

Abhash Trivedi