Being one of the Big 6 in Europe, Fiat Group monopoly the Italian market. Since the 70’s, it acquired Lancia, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati, hence controlling over 90% of local production. In other words, only Lamborghini is not in its empire.
Fiat itself is renowned for making fabulous small cars, such as 500, 127, Panda, Uno and Punto. In contrast, it no longer involves in bigger cars, leaving spaces to be fulfilled by Lancia. Alfa Romeo is positioned to rival BMW for making "ultimate driving machines".
Fiat’s fortune is declining since the 70’s. As the free trade within EU was enhanced, local market share has been dropping. The street, once having 3 Fiats out of 4 cars, has more and more Volkswagen, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault and Ford now. The Japanese invasion also threatened the survival of Fiat. Therefore in March 2000, it merged with General Motors (20% stakes sold to GM in exchange for the latter’s 5.1% shares). This allowed it to reduce cost by sharing platforms and components with Opel.
However, the partnership never went smooth. Fiat’s financial trouble deepened in the following years. Sales slumped and share price sank like Titanic. In Feb 2005, GM pulled out of the merger by paying US$2 billion for divorce. Fiat becomes independent again. But now it has to struggle for survival by its own.
Subsidiary Fiat (managed by Fiat Auto)
Alfa Romeo (managed by Fiat Auto)
Lancia (managed by Fiat Auto)
Ferrari (56%)
Maserati
Iveco (truck)
Magneti Marelli (components)
Sales figure Fiat Auto sales (Fiat + Lancia + Alfa Romeo):
2005: 1,697,300 units
2004: 1,766,000 units
2003: 1,696,000 units
Brief History Fiat - Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino - is one of the oldest car makers surviving. It was founded in Turin in 1899. The first car bearing the Fiat name, Model 4HP, appeared in 1904.
In the pre-mass production years, it produced only a handful of cars out of human hands. The no. of employees exceeded the no. of cars made per annum. After Managing Director Giovanni Agnelli visited Henry Ford’s factory in the 10’s, he decided to introduce American-style mass production. The result was the big Lingotto plant, which had test track on its roof and quickly became the symbol of Italian industry. Production grew rapidly, led to the construction of a second plant in Turin. Before the broke out of WWII, Fiat employed 50,000 workers and remained to be a driving force to Italy’s economy.
Giovanni Agnelli firmly controlled the company till his death in 1945, his family still held a majority share but no member succeeded his leadership position. So Vittorio Valletta became the Chairman. After WWII, production resumed as the factory was rebuilt. Within a few years it introduced a string of successful economy car, 500 and 600. During the magic decade between 1959 to 1969, Fiat’s output rose from 425,000 to 1,751,400 cars.
Fiat 500
Agnelli family resumed their leadership with Giovanni Agnelli II, the grandson of the founder, became the Chairman in 1966. He used to be a playboy and loved driving sports cars. A horrible car accident changed his attitude.
In the 70’s Fiat was hit by strikes and some unsuccessful product design. Oil crisis would have helped it but by then the company had already expanded its product line-up to big cars and exotic cars such as the Ferrari-engined Dino. Because of the use of Russian steel and problems in quality control, sales dropped and Fiat had to pull out from America.
However, other Italian car makers are even worse. Fiat absorbed Lancia in 1978. In 1986, Alfa Romeo became fully under the ownership of Fiat after an unsuccessful alliance with Nissan. 17 years earlier, Fiat reached an agreement with Enzo Ferrari to take over 50% stock, letting Enzo to concentrate on Formula One Racing activity. In 1993, DeTomaso sold 50% stock of Maserati to Fiat. The remaining 50% was settled in 1997 when Fiat asked Ferrari to receive and run Maserati.
In the 80’s, new CEO Cesare Romiti, saved Fiat by introducing highly automated production line and standardised components. This won reputation as the most efficient European car maker. Helped by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Panda and Uno, Fiat revived quickly.
In the 90’s, there were moments of up and down. The ambitious Tipo and its derivatives did not result in expected success, so is the award-winning Brava / Bravo and the "world-car" Palio. However, Punto broke the sales record in Europe and established as solid basis for the second generation Punto. Panda, a miracle of the 80’s, still attract sufficient interest to keep producing through next millennium. More interesting is that Fiat now builds some niche models - Barchetta, Coupe and Multipla, thanks to the leadership of CEO Paolo Cantarella.
In 2000, Fiat surprised the world by merging with GM. This allowed it to share engineering and production cost with Opel. But the partnership last less than 5 years. In 2005, Fiat and GM separated again.
Famous models 500 - a very lovely tiny car, nearly 4 million produced from 1957-77.
850 Spider - Bertone-styled feather-weight roadster.
Dino - the most exotic Fiat, powered by a Ferrari V6 and carrying the name of Enzo’s son.
124 Spider - another popular Fiat roadster.
X1/9 - the first production mid-engined feather-weight sports car. Terrific look but slow.
Uno - the most successful Fiat in the 80’s, saved the company from financial trouble. 6.3 million units produced.
Punto - broke the sales record in Europe to be the fastest new car to reach 1 million sales.
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