Fiat S.p.A.

This article is about the former holding company of FCA Italy. For its successor, see Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. For the operational car manufacturer, see Fiat.

Fiat S.p.A.
Company typeSocietà per azioni
IndustryAutomotive
Media
Founded11 July 1899 in Turin, Italy
FounderGiovanni Agnelli
DefunctOctober 12, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-10-12)
FateMerged into successor Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, taking control of the Fiat Group
SuccessorFCA
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A.
HeadquartersTurin, Italy
Key people
Gianni Agnelli
John Elkann (chairman)
Sergio Marchionne (CEO)
ProductsAutomobiles, commercial vehicles, auto parts, newspapers, production systems
Production output
4.2 million units (mass market brands – new cars and LCVs)(2012)[1]
RevenueIncrease €83.957 billion (2012)[1]
Increase €3.814 billion (2012)[1]
Total assetsIncrease €82.119 billion (end 2012)[1]
Total equityIncrease €13.173 billion (end 2012)[1]
OwnerExor (30.05%)
Number of employees
214,836 (end 2012)[1]
Subsidiaries
Companies[2]

Fiat S.p.A., or Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin), was an Italian holding company whose original and core activities were in the automotive industry, and that was succeeded by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA). The Fiat Group contained many brands such as Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, the Chrysler Group, and many more. On 29 January 2014, it was announced that Fiat S.p.A. (the former owner of Fiat Group) was to be merged into a new Netherlands-based holding company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA), taking place before the end of 2014. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles became the new owner of Fiat Group.[3] On 1 August 2014, Fiat S.p.A. received necessary shareholder approval to proceed with the merger (which followed board approval).[4] The merger became effective 12 October 2014.[5][6]

Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors, including Giovanni Agnelli. During its more than century-long history, Fiat has also manufactured railway engines and carriages, military vehicles, farm tractors, and aircraft. In 2013, Fiat (together with Chrysler) was the second largest European automaker by volumes produced, and the seventh in the world ahead of Honda, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Suzuki, Renault, and Daimler AG.

Over the years, Fiat has acquired numerous other automakers: it acquired Lancia in 1968, became a shareholder of Ferrari in 1969, took control of Alfa Romeo from the Italian government in 1986, purchased Maserati in 1993, and became the full owner of Chrysler Group LLC in 2014. Fiat Group currently produces vehicles under twelve brands: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Ram Trucks, and SRT.

In 1970, Fiat employed more than 100,000 in Italy when its production reached the highest number, 1.4 million cars, in that country.[7] As of 2002, Fiat built more than 1 million vehicles at six plants in Italy and the country accounted for more than a third of the company's revenue.[7]

Fiat-brand cars are built in several locations around the world. Outside Italy, the largest country of production is Brazil, where the Fiat brand is the market leader.[8][9] The group also has factories in Argentina, Poland and Mexico (where Fiat-brand vehicles are manufactured at plants owned and operated by Chrysler for export to the U.S., Brazil, Italy and other markets) and a long history of licensing manufacture of its products in other countries - in the 1960s, Fiat notably set up joint ventures in Eastern Europe with the best known being VAZ (Lada) in the former Soviet Union. It also has numerous alliances and joint ventures around the world, the main ones being located in Serbia, France, Turkey, India and China.

Gianni Agnelli, the grandson of founder Giovanni Agnelli, was Fiat's chairman from 1966 until 1996; he then served as honorary chairman from 1996 until his death on 24 January 2003, during which time Cesare Romiti served as chairman. He was succeeded briefly by Paolo Fresco, who served as chairman, and Paolo Cantarella, as CEO. Umberto Agnelli then took over as chairman from 2003 to 2004. After Umberto Agnelli's death on 28 May 2004, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was named chairman, with Agnelli heir John Elkann becoming vice chairman (at the age of 28), and other family members also serving on the board. On 1 June 2004, Giuseppe Morchio was replaced by Sergio Marchionne as CEO.

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Fiat. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Group Brands". fiatspa.com. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Fiat S.p.A. approves merger plan for the formation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles" (PDF) (Press release). Fiat S.p.A. 15 June 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  4. ^ Snavely, Brent (4 August 2014). "Merger opens new chapter for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles". USAToday. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  5. ^ Wayland, Michael (7 October 2014). "Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merger to become official Sunday". The Detroit News. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Fiat says merger into Dutch-registered FCA effective October 12". Reuters. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  7. ^ a b Tommaso Ebhardt and David Rocks (30 January 2014). "Maserati Boom Signals Fiat 'Arrivederci' to Italian Past". Bloomberg.
  8. ^ "Fiat n.1 in Brasile (a maggio)" (in Italian). autoblog.it. 29 June 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  9. ^ Garcí, Enrique (29 June 2007). "Ventas Mayo 2007: Brasil" (in Spanish). Auto blog. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.