Fiat

Fiat S.p.A. is also known as Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, and in America it is called the Italian Automobile Factory of Turin. It is an Italian automobile maker, engine builder and industrial/financial group, which is headquartered in the Piedmont region. The company was founded in 1899, by an investment group that included Giovanni Agnelli. Fiat has also made a wide variety of other items, such as planes, tanks and railroad cars. As of the end of 2009, Fiat was the largest car manufacturer in Italy, and the ninth largest worldwide. Fiat’s cars are made in places far and wide, with the most non-Italian Fiats being made in Brazil, where the brand is very popular. Fiat also has plants in Poland and Argentina, with other operations present in China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia and Turkey.

At first, Fiat’s focus was on the production of industrial and agricultural vehicles, not just cars. Over the years, Fiat has diversified into other areas, and now they have operations in many areas, such as finance. Fiat is the largest single business in Italy, and it also has significant holdings around the world. Fiat has operations in 61 countries other than Italy, employing over 220,000 people in 1,063 companies. The cars Fiat makes range from smaller, about-town vehicles, to fast and flashy sports cars that are made by Ferrari, to utility trucks and vans made by Iveco and Ducato. The Fiat Group also owns an 85% interest in Ferrari S.p.A, and Maserati, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia are wholly owned by Fiat.

According to The Fiat Blog, The Fiat Group has won Europe’s Car of the Year award twelve times, which is more than any other car manufacturer. The most recent win came in 2008, by the Fiat Nuova 500. Fiat also owns CNH Global, a company that includes Case IH, Case Construction, Kobelco, Flexi-Coil, New Holland, and Steyr. CNH is the third largest construction equipment manufacturer in the world, behind Komatsu and Caterpillar, and it’s the second largest maker of agricultural equipment behind Deere and Company. Altogether, CNH revenues account for about one fifth of Fiat’s total revenue.

Fiat makes a variety of commercial vehicles, under the Irisbus, Iveco and Seddon Atkinson marques. Firefighting vehicles are made by the Iveco, Camiva and Magirus divisions, and Ariete makes military vehicles. In April 2007, Fiat Veicoli Commerciali became Fiat Professional, to include the Ducato, Doblo Cargo and Scudo lines. The Fiat Group also owns the largest iron foundry company in the world, Teksid S.p.A., producing over 600,000 tons per year. Teksid was started at the end of 1978, producing and designing cylinder blocks, heads, drive shafts, exhaust manifolds, components and camshafts for civilian and industrial vehicles. Fiat’s production is mainly handled through Comau Systems, which bought out Pico, Renault Automation and Sciaky. During the 70s and 80s, Fiat became a leader in the use of robots on motor vehicle assembly lines, and today, Fiat’s plants are some of the most technologically advanced on Earth.