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 is. 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. Toyota Yaris iinvasion to the small car market could also be a big threat to Fiat is future. Most other car makers in this size are forming alliances or even taking over one another, but Fiat still fails to find a partner without losing its power. 

However, car enthusiasts would be delighted to see Fiat remains independent because it is one of the most unique mainstream car makers. It is the first to apply laser welding, the first to develop a robotised engine family (FIRE engine), the first European car maker confirming the benefit of cross-brand platform sharing (Type 4 : Fiat Croma, Lancia Thema, Saab 9000 and Alfa 164), then being the first to realise the importance of platform sharing with sufficient deviation (Derived Alfa GTV and Fiat Coupe from Tipo; Alfa 156 and Lancia Lybra with different rear suspension.) Now it is to pioneer the mass production of space frame chassis, which is to allow even more deviation to its future product line-up.

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 is, 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 is, 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 is, 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, now appointed to lead the whole Fiat Group.