Any driver car insurance was not even invented when the Fiat Company was born. Fiat is an acronym for ‘Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino’ and translated to English, reads ‘Italian Automobile Factory of Turin’. F.I.A.T. was founded on July 12, 1899, in the Italian city of Turin, at the time the city was enjoying a good period of industrial growth.

The first Fiat plant started in 1900, had 35 employees and made 24 cars. The Chairman was Mr Ludovico Scarfiotti, with Emanuele Cacherano di Bricherasio having the job as Vice Chairman.  It was Giovanni Agnelli, however, whose strategic vision and determination paved the way for FIAT to become a household name. A former cavalry officer in the army, he managed to gain an important position with the original investors and he was made Managing Director in 1902. He came up with the idea of a promotional tour of Italy by car and this was successfully done with the finish line at the Milan Fair. The Fiat oval logo on a blue background was designed by Carlo Biscaretti and this was adopted in 1904, the first car to have the Fiat brand was a Model 4 HP. The Fiat Company focused on a two-pronged strategy for the company to grow. These were 1- diversification of production and 2- concentrate on the most promising markets. This has been the strategy for Fiat throughout over 100 years of history.

A decade after it was founded, Fiat had seen its capital stock increase to a massive 12 million Lire, it now had 2,500 employees and had manufactured a total of 1,215 cars. Even the First World War did not hamper them, as this meant a conversion to military production of army trucks, ambulances and engines for submarines, to name just a few. During this time, Giovanni Agnelli still had a vision of a bright future for Fiat based on car manufacturing. Following fact finding missions to the USA, Fiat then started to plan a new factory based on what they learned from the states. Fiat’s aim was to match the technology of America.

By 1948, mainly thanks to money received from the Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, it was the primary program during 1947-51, of the US for rebuilding and creating a stronger economy for Europe) factories had been rebuilt. The number of workers employed by Fiat increased by ten thousand. In 1946 Fiat recorded a loss. But the upward trend resumed two years later. As manufacturing output recovered in the years after the war, Fiat introduced the Fiat 500B, which was available to customers as a sedan or as a station wagon.  When the 500C was released it offered for the first time, heating and ventilation installed as standard equipment. The first vehicles that were equipped with a diesel engine were driven off the assembly line in 1953.

Almost 60 years on from that first diesel engine FIAT is still going strong even though it has had its ups and downs.