themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car 43The company began making cars in 1899 and, as
early as 1910, was manufacturing cars in the US.
Since that time, it has become a giant of the vehicle
manufacturing world, and of some non-vehicle-
manufacturing industries as well.
Nowadays, Fiat could arguably be called Dutch
based; well, the holding company is registered in
the Netherlands. The ensuing raft of companies is
just bewildering. Only avid readers of the Financial
Times or suchlike would stand any chance of
understanding the business machinations that are
today FCA Italy SpA — or ‘Fiat’ to you and me.
It is perhaps interesting to note that the family of one
of the founders, Giovanni Agnelli, still owns about
30 per cent of today’s company.
The present
Trying to untangle the world of Fiat is like trying to
unravel a plate of spaghetti, and the accompanying
bolognaise sauce has more lumps in it than Mussolini
did once his war ended. Pull on one end of a strand of
pasta on your plate, and it will finish on another plate
on the other side of the table.
Today, Fiat includes Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari,
Fiat, Lancia, and Maserati, as well as Chrysler products
such as Dodge and Jeep (Chrysler is the ‘C’ in FCA).
Fiat’s other holdings include the world’s largest steel-
casting company and one of the largest aluminium
casting companies — handy when you make cars.
Besides those, there are conglomerates of finance,
banking, insurance, and media, to name just some
areas of business interest.
The company has established activities in dozens of
countries and controls some of the technical expertise
used by almost all vehicle manufacturers.
It employs about a quarter of a million workers,
and even has a manufacturing activity in North
Korea, with pasta and noodles served in the workers’
canteen there.Local market
Here in New Zealand, Fiats have been on our roads
for decades. Probably the first model that was seen in
volume was the Fiat 500. It was known here as the
‘Bambina’, a name that was given to it by the local
franchise but was eventually used internationally for
Fiat’s mini car. The Bambina made its appearance here
in 1959, a few years before local assembly began. OfThe shark-like snout and the slightly raised bubble ‘eyes’ look as
aggressive as they do well proportioned.