In recent years it has been easy to forget that Fiat is one of the very biggest names in motoring – the Italian automotive brand was once the biggest in Europe and part of a massive conglomerate that even extended to owning an airline.
While widely regarded as the Italian state manufacturer, in true Italian style for much of its life Fiat was headed by one family. When the company was founded in 1899, Giovanelli Agnelli took the lead role, and – apart from a 20-year hiatus directly after the second world war – the Agnellis controlled Fiat until 1996, when Giovanelli’s grandson Gianni retired. Evn today, a scion of the Agnelli family is still the chairman of the parent company that owns Fiat.
For much of this period, Fiat was renowned for its product – the company has won the coveted European Car of the Year Trophy more times than any other manufacturer, with nine awards. However, the most recent was back in 2008 with the Fiat 500, with nothing since.
More recent times have been tougher for Fiat, with an enforced reliance on the sales of its small cars. Today, the brand is at a crossroads, but with hopes of a brighter future as part of the automotive giant that is Stellantis.
So who or what is Fiat?
Fiat’s story began in the final months of the 19th century, founded by four entrepreneurs in July 1899 as ‘Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino’ (Italian car manufacturing company of Turin). Its first production plant opened a year later with 24 examples made of the first model, the 4 HP.
One of those four entrepreneurs was Giovanelli Agnelli, who would lead the company until he died in 1945. He started in style – by 1903, Fiat was making a profit and, just three years later, it became a public company.
By now, trucks were also being produced and, in 1908, the first Fiats were exported to America, with a factory opened in New York two years later. Americans regarded Fiats as very upmarket cars – in 1908, you could buy a Ford Model T for $825, whereas a Fiat would cost you $4,000.
Fiat quickly expanded its activities and in the first world war made military equipment for the Allied forces before resuming car production. The Lingotto factory, opened in 1923, was the largest in Europe and benefited from Fiat’s experience in the US, being the first of the company’s plants to use assembly lines.
In the second world war, Fiat found itself on the Axis side, building military equipment for Italian and German forces, including aircraft. When Italian leader Benito Mussolini was overthrown in 1943, the new Italian leadership removed the Agnelli family from their roles at Fiat, arguing that the company had been too closely associated with the Mussolini regime. Not until 1963 did the Agnellis return, and Gianni Agnelli, grandson of the company founder, led the company until 1996.
Agnelli reorganised Fiat, separating the car and commercial vehicle production. By 1968, the brand was widely regarded as the most successful car manufacturer in Europe, outshining even Volkswagen.
In 1969, Fiat took controlling stakes in Ferrari and Lancia and by 1970 was building more than 1.4 million cars in six Italian plants, as well as operating factories throughout the world. The company had interests in a range of industries, even owning the Italian national airline Alitalia.
The 1970s and ’80s brought more challenges, including two oil crises and the growing challenge from Japanese manufacturers, while Fiat also suffered from a reputation for corrosion issues. The various divisions were all spun off into separate companies in 1979, the car manufacturer becoming Fiat Auto. In 1986, it took over Alfa Romeo, which had previously been owned by the Italian government, and Maserati was acquired in 1992.
Fiat was by now suffering from a sliding market share, particularly in Italy, until Sergio Marchionne, appointed CEO in 2004, reversed the decline. A new Grande Punto model proved highly popular and in 2005 Fiat made its first profit in five years.
The losses soon returned, however, and in 2014 Marchionne dropped the Grand Punto to focus on what he described as ‘cool’ vehicles like the Fiat 500 and the Panda. By now, the company was Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the Italian company’s 20% stake in US giant Chrysler rescuing it from bankruptcy in 2009, and Fiat took full control in 2014. Two years later, Ferrari was spun off from the new group.
In more recent times, Fiat’s biggest issue became a struggle to keep up with ever-increasing safety legislation, forcing the brand down the road of marketing small cars that lacked the latest driver aids offered in some rival cars. The key to breaking out of this cycle came in 2019, when FCA merged with the French PSA Group, owner of Peugeot and Citroën, to become part of what we now know today as the multi-brand conglomerate Stellantis.
What models does Fiat have and what else is coming?
Fiat’s journey to electrification has seen a savage cutting of its model range. The 500X, Panda and Tipo were all pensioned off in 2024 and, as of July 2025, there are just three models currently available, of which only one has an engine, the perennially popular Fiat 500. This is now positively geriatric in automotive terms, and will be replaced by an all-new model later this year.
The 500 was launched in 2007, Fiat referencing the route taken by BMW with the Mini by directly evoking the classic Fiat Cinquenceto of the 1950s. And unlike many of the Mini challengers, the strategy worked – the 500 has to a great extent sold on its lifestyle image, which has been boosted by countless limited edition models.
The car underwent a major update in 2015 and is today only available with a mild hybrid engine as a cheaper alternative to the electric 500. There is also a more potent 500 sold by Fiat spin-off Abarth.
Unfortunately, the 500 only merits a New Car Expert Rating of E in The Car Expert’s Expert Rating index, due mainly to a lack of comfort and an outdated safety specification. In contrast its much newer electric sister the 500 Electric – or ‘500e’ – earns a New Car Expert Rating of A, despite still offering only an average level of advanced safety aids.
On sale since 2021, the 500e is not simply a 500 with a motor instead of an engine, being slightly larger and available in both hard top and cabriolet form. Reviews have praised the 500e’s on-the-road performance and much-improved interior quality. This model will form the basis for the new petrol-powered 500 due later this year.
Current Fiat range on our Expert Rating Index
The 600e arrived in 2023 as effectively a larger compact SUV sister to the 500e and styled in similar fashion. Underneath that styling the car shares its hardware with the Jeep Avenger from within the Stellantis family.
The 600e has received mixed reviews, marked up for its style but down for its cramped interior and driving experience outshone by many rivals. As of July 2025, it holds a New Car Expert Rating of B.
The Fiat Panda was dropped in 2024 as on its way to showrooms is a new Grande Panda, in both electric and hybrid variants. This car is causing quite a lot of excitement, especially as its price of around £21,000 makes it a very competitive electric vehicle. Some observers believe it will render the 600e redundant.
Reports suggest Fiat will dramatically expand its model line-up in the next few years, making the most of the hardware-sharing now available to it as part of Stellantis. By 2030 the range will include all-new versions of the 500 and the Panda, along with two new mid-sized models, details of which are yet to be revealed.
Where can I try a Fiat car?
Fiat has around 80 dealerships across the UK, which is significantly less than before the brand became part of Stellantis, when it had around 125 outlets.
The dealer network is well spread across the UK, even those based in the north of Scotland not having too far to travel to try out a Fiat.
What makes Fiat different to the rest?
Fiat has always traded on that image of style that attaches itself to anything Italian. While the brand has had issues with its average safety features and at times reliability, its cars generally look good, especially inside.
Applied in more recent times to small cars, the image has survived into the electric age with some of the 500e’s best scores being for its style.
A Fiat fact to impress your friends
Fiat once had one of the world’s most famous factories, because it had a test track on its roof. When opened in 1923 after seven years of construction, Lingotto in Turin was one of the largest car plants in the world, but was most renowned for its production line that started on the ground and wound its way up five floors.
Finished cars emerged onto the mile-long rooftop test track, with banked corners on either end, before descending a spiral to ground level to go on sale. Immortalised in the movie The Italian Job, Lingotto built its last car in 1982, and now houses Fiat offices and a posh hotel.
Summary
Fiat has had it tough in recent times, relying on small car sales and becoming a less significant manufacturer as a result. Now under the wing of Stellantis, the brand has a chance to reset itself for a new electric age and to perhaps regain some of its past glories.
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