Fiat Mirafiori

Last updated
Stabilimento di Mirafiori
Fiat - Mirafiori building (Italy, 2020).png
Fiat Mirafiori
Built1939
Location Turin, Italy
Coordinates 45°01′38″N7°38′11″E / 45.027106°N 7.636399°E / 45.027106; 7.636399
Industry Automotive
Products Maserati Levante

Maserati Ghibli

Maserati Quattroporte
Employees18,000 (2012)
Area2,000,000 m²
Address
  • Corso Giovanni Agnelli n.200
  • Turin, Italy

The Stabilimento di Mirafiori (in English, the Mirafiori Factory) is the headquarters and industrial district of the Italian automobile manufacturer Fiat, a subsidiary of FCA Italy, which is part of Stellantis, and is the headquarters of CNH Industrial Group.

Contents

The name Mirafiori derives from the homonymous district in which it is located (in turn derived from the name of an ancient castle of the Savoy).

In the past, it was the largest Italian industrial complex. It is the oldest automobile factory in Europe and is still partially in operation today. It occupies an area of 2,000,000 m². Twenty kilometres of railway lines and 11 kilometres of underground roads link the various warehouses. The office building, which overlooks Corso Giovanni Agnelli, is a 5-storey building 220 metres long, covered with white Finale stone. The self-contained electricity production of the plant was around 210 GWh/year in 2011. Today around 18,000 employees work in the area and in 2012 about 41,600 cars were produced. Currently it produces the Fiat 500e, Maserati Levante luxury SUV, Maserati Ghibli sport sedan and Maserati Quattroporte luxury sedan.

In the more than 80 years since inauguration, over 35 types of cars and 28.7 million vehicles have been produced at the Mirafiori plant. [1]

History

It was inaugurated on 15 May 1939 in the presence of Benito Mussolini, but the Duce found himself speaking in a cold climate of workers, marked by the increase in food prices due to the politics of autarchy and the fear of the imminent war, which point to leave the stage when a question addressed to the crowd was answered only by a few hundred people out of the 50,000 present.

Mirafiori (1942) Stabilimento Fiat Mirafiori, veduta aerea, Torino 1942 - san dl SAN IMG-00001319.jpg
Mirafiori (1942)

The first model that would have been produced was the Fiat 700, a project left unfinished due to the outbreak of the Second World War. Car production really started only in 1947 with the second series of the Fiat 500 B “Topolino” and the relocation of the lines of the Fiat 1100, previously built at the Lingotto factory.

On 5 March 1943 a workers' strike began in the workshop 19 of the factory. In a few days 100,000 workers crossed their arms: it was the first major worker rebellion that would soon spread to all the factories in Northern Italy. Passed into history as the "strikes of March 1943", it marked the beginning of the collapse of the fascist regime and represented the first vocal episode of the anti-fascist resistance. Seriously damaged by air raids during the Second World War, the factory was rebuilt and expanded with a development project that culminated with the doubling of capacity, completed in 1958. Starting from the post-war period, the design of the most advanced Fiat products (cars, industrial vehicles, aeronautical engines, aircraft, etc.) was concentrated in the office building and the plant became the site of the greatest industrial development in Turin (new welfare, and inevitably also of great social tensions).

In 1956 the expansion called "Mirafiori-Sud" was inaugurated, where the activities of sheet metal stamping and mechanical machining (engines and gearboxes) were located and expanded, while in the original area (now called Mirafiori-Nord) there remained the paving, the painting, the assembly, the finishing and the test track, as well as minor workings.

In 1969, in full economic expansion, great agitation due to the three-year term of the metalworkers' work contract gave rise to the Hot Autumn. The contractual claims joined the students' demands, giving life to a movement that would shake Italy for over a decade. Years later, Enrico Berlinguer, with a gesture of strong emblematic value, and not just within the PCI, would speak at the gates of Mirafiori, occupied by the workers: "That" top action "is realized with increasing separateness among the levels of the organization: the top managers of professional politicians, a consolidated class of local administrators, the grassroots militants, the last representatives of a communist people spread among work, trade unions, commitment in and for the party".

In the early 1970s the plant was upgraded to accommodate the production lines of a very important model for the Fiat range: the 131 sedan that, to honoiur the plant that reached the peak of production and technology in those years, was named the 131 Mirafiori and it was the first model to reintroduce a numerical alpha denomination. The 131 was produced from 1974 to 1983 with 1,513,800 units sold.

In October 2001 production of the Lancia Thesis started after the closure of the Fiat Rivalta plant. [2] In 2002 Fiat relocated the production of Lancia Lybra and Alfa Romeo 166. [3] In 2003 Mirafiori plant started producing the Fiat Idea minivan and the sister Lancia Musa [4] and in 2006 started the second assembly line of the Fiat Grande Punto. Production of the Grande Punto stopped in 2007 and the assembly line was converted to produce the Alfa Romeo Mito and many components for the Abarth Grande Punto.

Mirafiori (2011) FiatMirafiori1.jpg
Mirafiori (2011)

On 18 February 2008 the new Abarth headquarters was inaugurated in the Officina 83 area, while the new Abarth 500 was also presented during the inauguration of the same. [5]

In July 2012, production of Fiat Idea and Lancia Musa ceased. [6]

In 2016, production started of the Maserati Levante luxury sport utility. [7] [8]

In summer 2018, the last Alfa Romeo Mito was built. In November 2018 FCA announced that the production of the Fiat 500 Electric was planned for 2020. In July 2019 FCA started investing 788 million euros into building electric Fiat 500e. [9] As of 2022, the Fiat 500e and the Maserati Levante are produced in Mirafiori.

Vehicle produced in Mirafiori

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maserati</span> Italian luxury car manufacturer

Maserati S.p.A. is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Maserati was initially associated with Ferrari. In May 2014, due to ambitious plans and product launches, Maserati sold a record of over 3,000 cars in one month. This caused them to increase production of the Quattroporte and Ghibli models. In addition to the Ghibli and Quattroporte, Maserati offers the Maserati GranTurismo and two SUV models, the Maserati Levante and the Maserati Grecale. Maserati has placed a yearly production output cap at 75,000 vehicles globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abarth</span> Italian car manufacturer

Abarth & C. S.p.A. is an Italian racing- and road-car maker and performance division founded by Italo-Austrian Carlo Abarth in 1949. Abarth & C. S.p.A. is owned by Stellantis through its Italian subsidiary. Its logo is a shield with a stylized scorpion on a yellow and red background.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gruppo Bertone</span> Italian automobile company

Gruppo Bertone, commonly known as Bertone, was an Italian industrial design company which specialized in car styling, coachbuilding and manufacturing. It formerly was also a car manufacturing company. Bertone styled cars for Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, BMW, Citroën, Ferrari, FIAT, Iso, Lancia, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and Volvo, among others. In addition, the Bertone studio was responsible for two of the later designs of the Lambretta motorscooter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zagato</span> Italian coachbuilding company

Zagato is a coachbuilding company. The design center of the company is located in Terrazzano, a village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat Punto</span> Motor vehicle

The Fiat Punto is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat from 1993 to 2018, spanning over three generations. The third generation of the car was marketed between 2005 and 2009 as the Grande Punto, and between 2009 and 2012 as the Punto Evo, until the single-word Punto name was reintroduced. As of May 2013, nearly nine million units had been sold globally.

Multijet is Stellantis's term for its current common rail direct injection turbodiesel engine range. Most of the Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia range, as well as certain Chrysler, RAM Trucks, Jeep, and Maserati vehicles, are equipped with Multijet engines. Ownership of some Fiat Multijet designs is shared with General Motors as part of a settlement of the failed merger between the two auto conglomerates. The GM Powertrain Torino group in Turin, Italy, manages its interest in these engines. Some PSA Peugeot Citroën diesel engines are also rebadged JTD units, and vice versa. Fiat's common-rail diesel engine is also known as JTD, an initialism of Jet Turbo Diesel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue&Me</span>

Blue&Me is an integrated in-vehicle infotainment system used worldwide on many vehicles marketed by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) from model years 2006–2017. With the exception of the Ford Ka, which is a lightly modified Fiat 500, the system is exclusive to Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia cars and to Fiat Professional's light commercial vehicles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat 500 (2007)</span> Motor vehicle

The Fiat 500 is an A-segment city car manufactured and marketed by the Fiat subdivision of Stellantis since 2007. It is available in hatchback coupé and fixed-profile convertible body styles, over a single generation — with an intermediate facelift in Europe with model year 2016. The 500 is internally designated as the Type 312 by FCA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat Linea</span> Compact car manufactured by Fiat

The Fiat Linea is a compact sedan produced by Fiat between 2007 and 2018. The sedan was released on 26 March 2007 at the Tofaş plant in Bursa, Turkey as a "world car" in developing countries. It is based on the Fiat Grande Punto. The Linea was designed by Fiat Style Centre and co-developed by Tofaş and Fiat do Brasil. Production in Turkey ended in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mebetoys</span>

Meccanica Bessana Toys, was an Italian toy manufacturer that produced die-cast scale model cars during the 1960s and 1970s.

The Turin Motor Show was an auto show held annually in Turin, Italy. The first official show took place between 21 and 24 April 1900, at the Castle of Valentino, becoming a permanent fixture in Turin from 1938 having shared it with Milan and Rome until that time. From 1972, the show was held biannually and in 1984, it moved into Fiat's shuttered Lingotto factory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggiora (manufacturer)</span>

Maggiora was an Italian coachbuilder from Moncalieri near Turin. They produced the Fiat Barchetta and the Lancia Kappa Coupé which was designed by Centro Stile Lancia. In 2003 the company was closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat</span> Italian automobile manufacturer

Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division Stellantis Italy. Fiat Automobiles was formed in January 2007 when Fiat S.p.A. reorganized its automobile business, and traces its history back to 1899, when the first Fiat automobile, the Fiat 4 HP, was produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FCA India Automobiles</span> Indian automotive company

FCA India Automobiles Private Limited (FCAIPL), formerly known as "Fiat Group Automobiles India Private Limited", was formed in 1997. The company was established for the production of cars and engines under the brand Fiat, Abarth, and Jeep. It is the ninth largest Indian car manufacturer by sales in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enrico Fumia</span> Italian automobile and product designer (born 1948)

Enrico Fumia is an Italian automobile and product designer. He is widely known for his work with the car design firm Pininfarina, helping to design and package a new sports car version of the Alfa Romeo, which included front-wheel drive and traversely-mounted engines. Today he runs Fumia Design Studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat Chrysler Automobiles</span> Multinational automotive manufacturing conglomerate

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA), now part of Stellantis, was an Italian-American multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, commercial vehicles, auto parts and production systems. At the time it was the world's eighth largest automobile maker. The group was established in 2014 through the merger of Chrysler Group and Fiat S.p.A. Its corporate headquarters were domiciled in Amsterdam and its financial headquarters were in London. The holding company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Milan's Borsa Italiana. Exor, an Italian investment group controlled by the Agnelli family, owned 29% of FCA and controlled 44% through a loyalty voting mechanism, the largest block of shares.

Marco Tencone is an Italian automotive and industrial designer, known for his design of Lancia concept cars.

Stellantis Europe S.p.A., formerly known as Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. from 2007 to 2014 and FCA Italy S.p.A. from 2014 to 2023, is the Italian subsidiary of the multinational automaker Stellantis, dedicated to the production and selling of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles and headquartered in Turin, Italy.

Stellantis Heritage is a department established to protect and promote the historic legacy –both automotive and archival– of the Italian brands Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia and Abarth. It was founded in Torino in 2015 to coordinate all the activities which, up to that moment, had been conducted individually by the brands to promote their historical and cultural heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat New 500</span> Italian battery-electric hatchback

The Fiat New 500, also known as the Fiat 500e is a battery-electric car by Italian manufacturer Fiat. The New 500 city car is manufactured at the Mirafiori plant in Turin and is sold alongside the conventionally-powered Fiat 500 (2007), which continues to be manufactured in Tychy, Poland. That 2007 car was used as the basis of a previous BEV Fiat 500e (2013), which was sold only in the United States and had a much smaller range than the New 500. It was scheduled to be launched at the Geneva Motor Show but that event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unveiled on 4 March 2020 in Milan.

References

  1. ilmessaggero.it, ed. (11 July 2019). "FCA, 80 anni dello stabilimento di Mirafiori" . Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  2. europe.autonews.com, ed. (12 September 2001). "Thesis is the first to move to Mirafiori" . Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  3. europe.autonews, ed. (2 July 2001). "Fiat ready to stop making cars at Rivalta" . Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  4. quattroruote.it, ed. (5 March 2003). "Fiat e Lancia nel futuro" . Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  5. autodesignmagazine.com, ed. (27 July 2018). "Sergio Marchionne e l'Officina 83" . Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  6. torino.repubblica.it, ed. (22 July 2012). "Mirafiori dice addio alla Lancia Musa. In 2.600 senza lavoro per un anno e mezzo" . Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  7. detroitnews.com, ed. (26 May 2016). "Fiat Chrysler increasing Maserati Levante production" . Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  8. Joseph, Noah (1 March 2016). "Maserati Levante is Italy's answer to the Porsche Cayenne". autoblog.com. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  9. "FCA Investing $788 Million To Build All-New Fiat 500 EV In Italy". 11 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.