Article | What happened to Fiat?

Not so long ago there was an Italian company called Fiat, they did not, and still doesn’t have a wide range of cars available for the south African market, but the ones that they did offer back then, well, it was stunning. Cars like the quaint Fiat 500 and 600, the little Fiat X1/9, the 750 coupe, the list goes on. All of them had some Italian flare, some form of design elements to them allowing them to be timeless. Sadly after the Fiat Uno though, things have gone south.

There was the triple P series, Palio, Panda and Punto. They had a couple of Commercial vehicles, and one or two other small cars. Some are good looking, but not really worth mentioning, and while it seems they have faded into the background, you will be surprised to know that this “little” company is the second largest motor manufacturer in Europe, and seventh largest in the world.

Why then do we see so little of this Italian stranger? Maybe the in the Fiat brand itself yes, but they have more cars on our roads than you would care to admit, even to some extend that some rich guys will love to deny.

Fiat owns Chrysler, Lancia, Fiat,Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Abarth, Jeep, Maserati, Ram trucks, and SRT. That’s a total of 12 names, and while some might not be very familiar, you most certainly have heard of them somewhere, somehow. SRT for example, is responsible for some terrifyingly fast and powerful cars, like the SRT Viper.

Fiat also has another part of a very rich history. During its 116 year existence, it’s done a bit of everything, from manufacturing railway engines and carriages, military vehicles, farm tractors, right through to aircraft. I can only think of a very few other manufacturers that’s close to this kind of history, Mercedes, BMW, and Datsun are the only ones who comes to mind now, and Except for Mercedes, BMW and Datsun has a couple of decades to catch up on, Datsun only sticking to cars and trucks throughout existence.

So it’s apparent that Fiat is big, bigger than I would have thought, but it still does not answer the one question I’ve asked in the beginning. Where have all the beautiful Fiats gone? Most Ferraris are extremely satisfying to look at, Alfa Romeo never brought out a car that didn’t have an x-factor, the modern Jeep, although keeping its classic look outside, is laced with a modern, exiting interior. Except for the Punto, which was ahead of its time, what happened?

Did Fiat conform to squareness like some cars stuck in the 90’s, are they trying to enforce a trend, or are they just plotting along these days? The new Fiat 500 is not original, the 500x and L series looks uncomfortable in its own clothes, and the new Uno is just plain unsightly.

There is some good news though, you may officially laugh at someone with a Ferrari, because you too can now claim your sub brand has pedigree, Italian flare and “style”, and you can go to bed tonight knowing that little Uno you had so many years back did really have the heart of its big brother!