automobile manufacturer . for its parent companies see fca italy fiat chrysler automobiles and formerly fiat s.p.a. fiat redirects here . for other uses see fiat disambiguation . fiat automobiles s.p.a. type subsidiary industry automotive founded july 11 1899 ; 117 years ago july 11 1899 in turin italy founder giovanni agnelli headquarters turin italy area served worldwide key people john elkann president olivier fran ois ceo products automobiles production output 1 455 650 units 2010 1 owner fiat chrysler automobiles parent fca italy website fiat.com fiat automobiles s.p.a. fiat italian fabbrica italiana automobili torino lit . italian automobiles factory turin is the largest automobile manufacturer in italy a subsidiary of fca italy s.p.a. which is part of fiat chrysler automobiles . fiat automobiles s.p.a. was formed in january 2007 when fiat reorganized its automobile business 2 and traces its history back to 1899 when the first fiat automobile was produced . contents 1 presence 1.1 europe 1.2 south america 1.3 united states 1.4 africa 1.5 asia 2 current production 2.1 western countries markets 2.2 emerging markets production in europe 2.3 emerging markets production in south america 3 european cars of the year 3.1 co2 emissions 4 electric vehicles 5 concept vehicles 6 motorsport 7 marketing 7.1 logo 7.2 motor village and flagship stores 7.3 bsm fiat deal 8 references 9 external links presence edit see also list of fiat passenger cars europe edit fiat punto fiat panda fiat s main market is europe mainly focused in italy . historically successful in citycars and supermini sector currently fiat has a range of models focused on those two segments in 2011 those accounted for the 84 % of its sales . fiat does not currently offer any large family car nor an executive car . fiat s share of the european market shrank from 9.4 per cent in 2000 to 5.8 per cent in the summer of 2004 . at this point sergio marchionne was appointed as fiat chief executive . by march 2009 their market share had expanded back to 9.1 % . 3 fiat s built their five story lingotto plant in 1915 through 1918 at the time it was europe s largest car manufacturing plant . 4 later the mirafiori plant was built also in turin . to prepare for production of the all new fiat 128 fiat opened their rivalta plant in october 1968 . until the 128 could enter production the plant was used to build sports versions of the 850 and 124 as well as parts for the fiat dino . 5 fiat s 2014 range of passenger car engines comprised eleven units eight petrols and three diesels . 6 their current range of models is the following city car fiat 500 fiat panda supermini fiat punto compact car fiat tipo mini mpv fiat 500l large mpv fiat freemont rebadged dodge journey mini suv fiat 500x fiat sales of 2011 were up to 676 704 minus 17.3 % vs. previous year 7 model 2011 sales fiat punto 220 343 fiat panda 189 527 fiat 500 156 301 fiat linea 35 499 fiat bravo 31 673 fiat sedici 14 777 fiat freemont 13 651 fiat albea 8 951 fiat idea 5 982 light commercial vehicles are sold in europe under the brand fiat professional . south america edit fiat uno specifically developed for brazilian market fiat has invested for a long time in south america mainly in brazil where has been the market leader for many years and in argentina . they built their first brazilian car plant at belo horizonte in 1973 after having begun by building tractors there . 8 the brazilian range is similar to european one with the addition of a special family which derives from a common platform called project 178 fiat palio fiat palio weekend fiat palio adventure fiat siena fiat grand siena . recently a brand new model developed in brazil has been launched the fiat uno . other european models are currently imported to brazil fiat 500 freemont . some others are still in production punto idea bravo and linea . fiat sells in brazil under the fiat brand european fiat professional light commercial vehicles as strada developed in brazil has the same platform as the palio and siena ; previous versions of european dobl dobl cargo fiorino and ducato ; the old european uno van . united states edit fiat re entered the north american market in 2011 with the new fiat 500 fiat has a long history in the united states . in 1908 the fiat automobile co. was established in the country and a plant in poughkeepsie n.y. 9 10 began producing fiats a year later like the fiat 60 hp and the fiat 16 20 hp . 11 these luxury cars were produced long before chrysler corp. was formed in 1925 from older manufacturers that were acquired by walter p. chrysler the founder . 12 the new jersey factory was closed when the united states entered into world war i in 1917 . fiat returned to north america in the 1950s selling the original 500 fiat 600 multipla fiat 1100 fiat 1200 and the fiat 1300 . 13 the company name fiat was sometimes used as a jocular backronym for fix it again tony referring to poor reliability and problems such as rust which some fiat owners in the united states encountered in the 1970s and 1980s with the fiat 124 sport spider and the fiat x1 9 . 14 15 16 partly as a result fiat sales in the us fell from a high of 100 511 cars in 1975 to 14 113 in 1982 . 15 in 1983 fiat left the united states car market with a reputation for poor quality cars in north america . 17 17 18 in january 2009 the fiat group acquired a 20 % stake in us automaker chrysler llc . 19 the deal saw the return of the fiat brand to north america after a 25 year absence . the first fiat branded model to appear in the us was the internationally popular fiat 500 city car . the fiat 500 model is built at chrysler s assembly plant in toluca mexico which currently makes also the dodge journey and fiat freemont crossovers . 20 fiat is also selling their commercial vehicles in north america rebranded as ram promaster and ram promaster city . africa edit fiat passenger cars began assembly in south africa in 1950 and full production in their rosslyn plant commenced in 1966 . 21 sales reached a peak market share of about five percent around 1970 but then dropped precipitously . a new 128 based half ton pickup truck helped turn the situation around . 22 asia edit fiat s presence in chinese market is limited compared to its european japanese korean and american rivals . at the beginning of 2012 fiat was only importing fiat bravo and fiat 500 model . however in 2012 fiat and gac opened a joint venture plant to produce the first fiat vehicle specifically developed for chinese market ever the fiat viaggio a compact car derived by another model of fiat spa group the dodge dart in turn derived by another fiat group car the alfa romeo giulietta . fiat currently offers to japanese consumers the 500 in both coupe and convertible bodystyles and the panda . both vehicles are in compliance with japanese government dimension regulations affording the japanese public to purchase a non japanese vehicle without having to pay an annual tax for driving a car that exceeds the regulations . fiat is also present in the indian market since 1948 . current presence is in joint venture with tata motors although current car sales fiat is currently offering the fiat punto and fiat linea are niche market and limited approx . 20k units in 2011 . current production edit western countries markets edit fiat 500l fiat freemont a segment fiat 500 the fiat 500 italian cinquecento italian pronunciation t i kwe t nto is a car produced by the fiat company of italy between 1957 and 1975 with limited production of the fiat 500 k estate continuing until 1977 . the car was designed by dante giacosa . redesigned in 2007 it is currently distributed worldwide . a segment fiat panda the fiat panda is a city car from the italian automotive manufacturer fiat . current version is the third one distributed as from 2012 . b segment fiat punto the third generation fiat supermini to bear the name punto codenamed project 199 the grande punto was unveiled at the 2005 frankfurt motor show and went on sale later that year . styled by giugiaro the car is based on the fiat gm sccs platform . whilst the model shares some of its name with the previous punto a large number of its components are new including a new chassis and body shell . after facelift in 2009 it was named as punto evo and sold as bare punto name . m segment fiat 500l the fiat 500l enlarges as from september 2012 the fiat 500 family with a mini mpv which replace the fiat idea . the model is produced in the new fiat plant in serbia . the platform is the same of the fiat punto . 23 j segment fiat freemont introduced in 2011 to replace fiat multipla and according to the manufacturer also the last version of the fiat croma . it is a rebadging of the dodge journey following the takeover of chrysler . emerging markets production in europe edit c segment fiat aegea emerging markets production in south america edit palio weekend fiat palio main article fiat palio the fiat palio is a supermini designed by fiat as a world car aimed at developing countries . the palio weekend is a small family car station wagon ; an extended version of the hatchback palio . fiat siena siena main article fiat siena the fiat siena is the four door sedan version of the fiat palio a small family car especially designed for developing countries . the car is similar to fiat albea . european cars of the year edit the european car of the year award has been awarded twelve times to the fiat group over the last forty years more than any other manufacturer . nine of these awards were won by fiat automobiles models . fiat models awarded the title 1967 fiat 124 1970 fiat 128 1972 fiat 127 1984 fiat uno 1989 fiat tipo 1995 fiat punto 1996 fiat bravo brava 2004 fiat panda 2008 fiat 500 24 co2 emissions edit fiat automobiles one of europe s 10 best selling automotive brands has for the second year running been confirmed as having the lowest average value for co2 emissions from vehicles sold in 2008 133.7 g km 137.3 g km in 2007 . this was corroborated by jato a provider of automotive data . 25 electric vehicles edit fiat started development of electric vehicles back in the mid 1970s with the concept fiat x1 23 . more recently in 2008 fiat showed the phylla concept 26 and the fiat bugster concept in brazil . 27 fiat joined utility companies cemig and itaipu to develop new electric vehicles for brazil with production in 2009 of the palio weekend electric . 28 fiat launched the electric 500e in california in 2013 but no sales were planned for europe . 29 fiat ceo sergio marchionne claimed in 2014 that each one was sold at a loss of 14 000 . 30 concept vehicles edit 1951 fiat biposto abarth bertone 1954 fiat turbina 31 1956 fiat 600 multipla eden roc 1957 fiat 1200 stanguellini spider 1961 fiat 600 model y berlinetta 1964 fiat 2300 s coupe speciale 1967 fiat 125 executive concept 1967 fiat 125 gtz 1967 fiat dino parigi 1968 fiat abarth 2000 32 1969 fiat 128 coupe 1969 fiat 128 teenager 1972 fiat 128 pulsar michelotti