About FiatThe name Fiat is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana di Automobil Torino, or "Italian Automobile Factory of Turin". The company was founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli and a group of investors, and by 1910 was the largest automaker in Italy, a fact that remains true today.Fiat built a plant in New York state in 1910 and built cars here until 1918, but the factory was ultimately closed due to governmental bureaucracy and red tape. The pre-war Fiat most well known to Americans would probably be the 500 Topolino. The "Little Mouse" was introduced in 1936 and helped establish Fiat's reputation for tiny 2- and 4-cylinder city cars. It was succeeded in 1957 by the iconic Fiat 500. The 500 was rear-engined and equipped with a sliding fabric "ragtop" roof, both features seen on the Volkswagen Beetle. It remained in production until 1975 and proved to be a huge commercial success throughout Europe. The successor to the... View more 500 was the 126, introduced in 1972. The 126 never achieved the same levels of worldwide popularity as the 500, but still did very well in niche markets, remaining in production in Poland until 2000. The flipside of Fiat's microcar legacy is its sports cars. In the 1950s, coachbuilder Abarth built up Fiats as high-performance Fiat-Abarths, including the humble 500. Abarth's racing success was great for the Fiat brand, and Fiat bought the company in the early 1970s. The Fiat 124 Sport Spider was a Pininfarina-styled convertible built from 1966 to 1985 and sold in the U.S. from 1975 to 1982. Today they remain the Fiat most commonly seen on U.S. highways. From 1979 to 1982, the model was known as the 2000 Spider. Another car still occasionally seen is the mid-engined X1/9, built from 1972 to 1982. The dramatically styled targa convertible was designed by Bertone. From 1982 to 1989, the cars were sold without Fiat badging as Bertone X1/9s. In the late 1960s, Fiat was tapped by Ferrari to build bodies for their new Dino V6 engine, in order to homologate for racing. Conceived of as an entry-level Ferrari to compete with the Porsche 911, Enzo Ferrari nonetheless did not want the Ferrari brand cheapened--hence, the "almost a Ferrari" marketing for the "Fiat" Dino. Today, Dinos are prized by the collector world for their styling, handling, and robust engine note. Fiat has earned the European Car of the Year award twelve times--more than any other automaker. The most recent winner was the 2008 Nuova 500, released in March of 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of the original 500. While the Nuova was developed to compete with modern micros like the Mini Cooper and Smart Car, styling cues make obvious reference to the original 500. The Nuova is also competitively priced by comparison, starting at $15,500. A sportier variant called the 500C, equipped with a full fabric roof, is available for $19,500. When the Nuova was introduced in the United States in early 2011, it represented the first time Americans could by a Fiat at a dealership in nearly three decades. View less | |||
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