The automotive industry in Italy is a quite large employer in the country, it had over 2,131 firms and employed almost 250,000 people in 2006. [1] Italy's automotive industry is best known for its automobile designs and small city cars, sports and supercars. The automotive industry makes a contribution of 8.5% to Italian GDP. [2]
Italy is one of the significant automobile producers both in Europe and around the world.
Today the Italian automotive industry is almost totally dominated by Fiat Group (now called Stellantis); in 2001 over 90% of vehicles were produced by it. As well as its own, predominantly mass market model range, Stellantis owns the mainstream Fiat brand, the upmarket Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands, and the exotic Maserati brand.
Italian cars won in the European Car of the Year annual award one of the most times among other countries (including Fiat most that any other manufacturer with Fiat 124, Fiat 128, Fiat Uno, Fiat Tipo and others) and in World Car of the Year award also. [3]
The Italian automotive industry started in the late 1880s, with the Stefanini-Martina regarded as the first manufacturer [4] although Enrico Bernardi had built a petrol fueled tri-cycle in 1884.
In 1888 Giovanni Battista Ceirano started building Welleyes bicycles, so named because English names had more sales appeal, [5] and in October 1898 he co-founded Ceirano GB & C with his brothers Matteo, and Ernesto to build the Welleyes motor car. As they encountered challenges of scale and finance they contacted a consortium of local nobility and business-men led by Giovanni Agnelli and in July 1899 Fiat SpA purchased the plant, design and patents – so producing the first F.I.A.T. – the Fiat 4 HP. The Welleyes / F.I.A.T 4 HP had a 679 cc engine and was capable of 35 km/h (22 mph). [6]
Isotta Fraschini was founded in 1900, at first assembling Renault model automobiles.
The automobile industry grew quickly and manufacturers included Aquila Italiana, Fratelli Ceirano, Società Anonima Italiana Darracq - Darracq, Diatto, Itala, Junior, Lancia, Società Ceirano Automobili Torino, S.T.A.R. Rapid, SPA, and Zust.
During the first and the second World Wars and the economic crisis of the 1970s, many of these brands disappeared or were bought by FIAT or foreign manufacturers.
Over the years, the Italian automobile industry has also been involved in numerous enterprises outside Italy, many of which have involved the production of Fiat-based models, including Lada in Russia, Zastava and Yugo in the former Yugoslavia, FSO (Polski Fiat) in Poland and SEAT (now part of Volkswagen) in Spain.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Italy restored its own large auto industry that was 3rd or 4th in Europe and 5th or 6th in the World. In the 1980s, Italy overtook the United Kingdom but conceded to the Soviet Union which, like Spain, Poland and Yugoslavia, began large-volume production of cars with Italian FIAT help.
The 1970s and 1980s were a time of great change for the car industry in Europe. Rear-wheel drive, particularly on family cars, gradually gave way to front-wheel drive. The hatchback bodystyle, first seen on the Renault 16 from France in 1965, became the most popular bodystyle on smaller cars by the mid-1980s. Fiat moved into the hatchback market at the small car end in 1971 with the 127 hatchback, followed by the Ritmo family car in 1978. By the end of the decade, the more upmarket Alfa Romeo and Lancia marques had also added hatchbacks to their ranges. The Italian motor industry's flair for innovative design continued in the 1980s, with its Uno supermini (1983) and Tipo family hatchback (1988) both being voted European Car of the Year mostly in recognition of their up-to-date and practical designs. The Uno was one of the most popular cars in Europe throughout its production life, although the Tipo was not so popular outside Italy.
The Uno's replacement, the Punto, was launched at the end of 1993 and achieved success similar to that of its predecessor, while its earlier Cinquecento played a big part in boosting the size of the city car sector in Europe during the 1990s. Fiat entered the new compact MPV market in 1998 with the quirky six-seater Multipla, having already entered the full size MPV market halfway through the decade with the Eurovan as part of a joint venture with Peugeot.
In the 1990s, the Italian auto industry again was 3rd in Europe and 5th in World with an annual output near 2 million (with 2,220,774 maximum in 1989). In 2011, however, it fell below 800,000 for the first time in half a century and is now 6th place in Europe and 19st place in the World. [9] [10] [11]
Italy today remains one of the significant players of car design and technology, and Fiat has large investments outside Italy including a 100% stake in the American automaker Chrysler as of January 2014. Fiat's fortunes have been helped since 2007 by the huge success across Europe of its new Fiat 500 city car, although the 500 is manufactured in Poland and Mexico, rather than in Italy.
Italian motor vehicle production [9] [10] [11] [12]
Year | Units |
---|---|
1913 | 2,000 |
1924 | 35,000 |
1928 | 55,000 |
1935 | 44,000 |
1950 | 129,000 |
1960 | 645,000 |
1961 | 759,000 |
1970 | 1,854,252 |
1971 | 1,817,000 |
1980 | 1,610,287 |
1981 | 1,433,000 |
1989 | 2,220,774 |
1990 | 2,120,850 |
1991 | 1,878,000 |
1994 | 1,534,000 |
1995 | 1,667,000 |
1996 | 1,545,000 |
1997 | 1,827,592 |
1998 | 1,692,737 |
1999 | 1,704,326 |
2000 | 1,741,478 |
2001 | 1,581,908 |
2002 | 1,429,678 |
2003 | 1,324,481 |
2004 | 1,145,181 |
2005 | 1,038,352 |
2006 | 1,211,594 |
2007 | 1,284,312 |
2008 | 1,023,774 |
2009 | 843,239 |
2010 | 838,400 |
2011 | 790,348 |
2012 | 671,768 |
2013 | 658,206 |
2014 | 697,864 |
2015 | 1,014,223 |
2016 | 1,103,516 |
2017 | 1,142,210 |
2018 | 1,060,068 |
2019 | 915,305 |
Italian current automobile manufacturers include:
Defunct manufacturers:
Fiat S.p.A., or Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, 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. 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. On 1 August 2014, Fiat S.p.A. received necessary shareholder approval to proceed with the merger. The merger became effective 12 October 2014.
Giorgetto Giugiaro is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was born in Garessio, Cuneo, Piedmont. Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2002. He was awarded the Compasso d'Oro industrial design award six times.
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Itala was a car manufacturer based in Turin, Italy, from 1904 to 1934, started by Matteo Ceirano and five partners in 1903.
The Fiat 4 HP was the first model of car produced by FIAT, from 1899 to 1900 based on a third party design.
Matteo Ceirano was an Italian businessman in the early automobile industry who co-founded the manufacturers Ceirano; Itala Fabbrica Automobili in 1904 and Società Piemontese Automobili (S.P.A.) in 1908.
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Ceirano GB & C was a historic automobile company, founded in October 1888 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano, Emanuele di Bricherasio, Attilio Calligaris, Pietro Fenoglio and Cesare Goria Gatti.
The SCAT was an Italian automobile manufacturer from Turin, founded in 1906 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano.
Giovanni Battista Ceirano was an Italian entrepreneur and car pioneer. The first motorcar he designed and built was the Well-Eyes, but he sold the rights to Giovanni Agnelli of F.I.A.T. who manufactured it in volume as their first motorcar.
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Società Torinese Automobili Rapid, also known as S.T.A.R. and Rapid, was an Italian car manufacturer founded by Giovanni Battista Ceirano in Turin in July 1904. Rapid was its trademark. In 1921 it was acquired by the S.P.A. company that had been founded by Giovanni Battista's brother Matteo Ceirano, and which, in 1925, was taken over by Fiat.
Giovanni Ceirano was an Italian industrialist and automotive pioneer. He cofounded 'Junior Fabbrica Automobili Torinese' in 1905, 'Società Ceirano Automobili Torino' in 1906, 'Fabbrica Automobili Ceirano' in 1917 and 'SCAT- Ceirano' in 1923.
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