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FIAT
FIAT
Car Design History - Automobile manufacturer
If
Alfa Romeo and Ferrari have made Italian
cars famous for their luxurious, sporty design, Fiat has turned Italy
into a nation of motorists. The Turin automobile manufacturer's 500,
developed by Dante Giacosa, was introduced in
1936 at a widely affordable price of 8,900 lire. With its thirteen-horsepower
engine and light, 1,100 pound weight, the "Topolino"
was the world's smallest car; by 1954 half a million had been sold. The
popular model was twice relaunched in updated versions, first as the Nuova
500 in 1957 and again in the 1990s as the Cinquecento.
The Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino was established in 1899. Like
many other car manufacturers it concentrated on the production of expensive
luxury vehicles and race cars during its early years. Giovanni Agnelli,
one of the company's founders, quickly came to recognize the industry's
broader potential, and in 1912 the Fiat Zero series went into production,
Italy's answer to Ford's Model T. By the early 1930s Fiat had
developed into Italy's leading car manufacturer and began to focus on
an emerging mass market with family sedans like the 1932 Balilla.
But Fiat also continued to make luxury cars, hiring car-body stylists
like Bertone and PininFarina
to design sleek sports cars such as the elegantly streamlined Fiat 1500
of 1935.
With the economic boom of the mid-1950s, a golden era began for the carmaker.
In 1961,90 percent of all cars sold in Italy were made by Fiat; between
1969 and 1973 the company more than doubled its output. After the 1974
oil crisis, low fuel consumption was suddenly as important as attractive
design. Two hugely successful models were introduced in the eighties:
the 1980 Fiat Panda, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro,
made a stir with its stripped-down look that e mphasized the car's practical
value. It was followed by Giugiaro's inexpensive 1983 Fiat Uno,
which became the quintessential subcompact.
In recent
decades, the Fiat group has taken over its former competitors Lancia
and Alfa Romeo, and acquired a majority stake in Ferrari.
In addition to cars, it manufactures trucks, buses, and utility vehicles,
constructs dams, tunnels, satellites, and rocket engines, and develops
pacemakers, lighting, robot technology, and computer systems for the health-care
industry.
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Fiat Car
History
Fiat
Auto spa, Turin |
| 1899 |
Founded
by Giovanni Agnelli and others in Turin |
| 1919 |
Lingotto
plant (until 1921) |
| 1939 |
Mirafiori plant |
| 1945 |
Senator Giovanni Agnelli passed away. |
| 1958 |
Centro Stile design center established |
| 1963 |
Giovanni Agnelli, Giovanni's grandson
becomes managing director and, in 1966, chairman |
| 1968 |
City Taxi by Pio Manzu at Centro
Stile |
| 1969 |
Acquisition
of Lancia and Ferrrari |
| 1982 |
Lingotto
plant was closed (turned into convention center) |
| 1984 |
Purchase of Palazzo Grassi in Venice;
turned into museum |
| 1987 |
Fiat buys Alfa Romeo |
FIAT
Car Models History |
| 1912 |
Zero
subcompact |
| 1932 |
Balilla |
| 1935 |
1500
sports car |
| 1936 |
500
Topolino subcompact |
| 1952 |
8
V racing car |
| 1955 |
600
subcompact |
| 1957 |
Nuova
500 subcompact |
| 1959 |
1800/1900
sedan
|
| 1964 |
850
subcompact |
| 1972 |
X
1/9 convertible |
| 1980 |
Panda
subcompact |
| 1988 |
Tipo
compact car |
| 1993 |
Cinquecento
subcompact; Seicento subcompact |
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