Everything you need to know about Fiat
In recent years it has been easy to forget that Fiat is one of the very biggest names in motoring – the Italian automotive brand was once the biggest in Europe and part of a massive conglomerate that even extended to owning an airline.
While widely regarded as the Italian state manufacturer, in true Italian style for much of its life Fiat was headed by one family. When the company was founded in 1899, Giovanelli Agnelli took the lead role, and – apart from a 20-year hiatus directly after the second world war – the Agnellis controlled Fiat until 1996, when Giovanelli’s grandson Gianni retired.
For much of this period, Fiat was renowned for its product – the company has won the coveted European Car of the Year Trophy more times than any other manufacturer, with nine awards. However, the most recent was back in 2008 with the Fiat 500, with nothing since.
More recent times have been tougher for Fiat, with an enforced reliance on the sales of its small cars. In 2025 the brand sold less than 9,000 cars in the UK, close to 40% down on its previous year’s performance, and by mid 2026 sales were still sliding.
While today, the brand is at a crossroads, it has hopes of a brighter future as part of the automotive giant that is Stellantis. This will allow Fiat to use the platforms of other brands in the group for new releases that will include larger models, but focus on what it currently does best, small cars.
So who or what is Fiat?
Fiat’s story began in the final months of the 19th century, founded by four entrepreneurs in July 1899 as ‘Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino’ (Italian car manufacturing company of Turin). Its first production plant opened a year later with 24 examples made of the first model, the 4 HP.
One of those four entrepreneurs was Giovanelli Agnelli, who would lead the company until he died in 1945. He started in style – by 1903, Fiat was making a profit and, just three years later, it became a public company.
By now, trucks were also being produced and, in 1908, the first Fiats were exported to America, with a factory opened in New York two years later. Americans regarded Fiats as very upmarket cars – in 1908, you could buy a Ford Model T for $825, whereas a Fiat would cost you $4,000.
Fiat quickly expanded its activities and in the first world war made military equipment for the Allied forces before resuming car production. The Lingotto factory, opened in 1923, was the largest in Europe and benefited from Fiat’s experience in the US, being the first of the company’s plants to use assembly lines.
In the second world war, Fiat found itself on the Axis side, building military equipment for Italian and German forces, including aircraft. When Italian leader Benito Mussolini was overthrown in 1943, the new Italian leadership removed the Agnelli family from their roles at Fiat, arguing that the company had been too closely associated with the Mussolini regime. Not until 1963 did the Agnellis return, and Gianni Agnelli, grandson of the company founder, led the company until 1996.
Agnelli reorganised Fiat, separating the car and commercial vehicle production. By 1968, the brand was widely regarded as the most successful car manufacturer in Europe, outshining even Volkswagen.
In 1969, Fiat took controlling stakes in Ferrari and Lancia and by 1970 was building more than 1.4 million cars in six Italian plants, as well as operating factories throughout the world. The company had interests in a range of industries, even owning the Italian national airline Alitalia.
The 1970s and ’80s brought more challenges, including two oil crises and the growing challenge from Japanese manufacturers, while Fiat also suffered from a reputation for corrosion issues. The various divisions were all spun off into separate companies in 1979, the car manufacturer becoming Fiat Auto. In 1986, it took over Alfa Romeo, which had previously been owned by the Italian government, and Maserati was acquired in 1992.
Fiat was by now suffering from a sliding market share, particularly in Italy, until Sergio Marchionne, appointed CEO in 2004, reversed the decline. A new Grande Punto model proved highly popular and in 2005 Fiat made its first profit in five years.
The losses soon returned, however, and in 2014 Marchionne dropped the Grand Punto to focus on what he described as ‘cool’ vehicles like the Fiat 500 and the Panda. By now, the company was Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the Italian company’s 20% stake in US giant Chrysler rescuing it from bankruptcy in 2009, and Fiat took full control in 2014. Two years later, Ferrari was spun off from the new group.
In more recent times, Fiat’s biggest issue became a struggle to keep up with ever-increasing safety legislation, forcing the brand down the road of marketing small cars that lacked the latest driver aids offered in some rival cars. The key to breaking out of this cycle came in 2019, when FCA merged with the French PSA Group, owner of Peugeot and Citroën, to become part of what we now know today as the multi-brand conglomerate Stellantis.
What models does Fiat have and what else is coming?
Fiat’s journey to electrification saw its 500X, Panda and Tipo all axed in 2024, followed by the petrol version of the 500 in 2025. Fiat’s most popular model, the 500 had been launched in 2007, referencing the route taken by BMW with the Mini by directly evoking the classic Fiat Cinquenceto of the 1950s, and proving a proper challenger to BMW’s small car.
To replace it Fiat launched a hybrid version of the newer 500e electric car. The 500e has been around since 2021 and is not simply a 500 with a motor instead of an engine, being slightly larger. It’s also quite popular, earning an A score on The Car Expert’s industry-leading Expert Rating index.
Both electric and hybrid versions of the 500 are offered in hard top and convertible forms, the hybrid arriving on UK roads in mid 2026.
Current Fiat range on our Expert Rating Index
The 600e arrived in 2023 as effectively a larger compact SUV sister to the 500e and styled in similar fashion. Underneath that styling the car shares its hardware with the Jeep Avenger from within the Stellantis family.
The 600e has received mixed reviews, marked up for its style but down for its cramped interior and driving experience outshone by many rivals. As of July 2026, it holds a New Car Expert Rating of B.
The Fiat Panda was dropped in 2024, replaced by a new Grande Panda, in both electric and hybrid variants. This car is caused quite a lot of excitement, especially as its price of around £21k makes it a very competitive electric vehicle which has also found many fans, as of July 2026 the EV earning a New Car Expert Rating of A, while the hybrid version holds a New Car Expert Rating of B. Some observers believe it will render the 600e redundant.
Fiat’s most recent launch is a tiny vehicle evoking another classic model name but which some argue is not a car at all. The Topolino is a two-seat electric quadricycle, costing under £10,000 but only capable of less than 50 miles before needing a recharge. Intended as an urban runabout, it’s based directly on sister brand Citroën’s Ami.
Fiat’s future plans focus very much on more small cars and urban mobility. The Topolino looks set to gain a larger four-seat sister, currently known as the Multiplina, while there are even plans for a three-wheeled electric scooter called the TRIS. However the current Fiat 500 line-up could be holding on in the market until 2029 when it will be replaced by all-new models.
As for the Panda, meeting the zero-emissions vehicle mandate killed off UK sales for the once popular model but it still sells very well in Italy and could be coming back to the UK. Fiat plans a new electric city car, a sister to Citroën’s revived 2CV with a price of under £15k, but it may also be sold with petrol engines as the company is determined to still offer a combustion-engined small car. However we are told nothing has been decided regarding a new Panda, and we are not likely to see new versions on the road until at least 2028.
Larger offerings are not being completely ignored – on sale in 2027 will be a new family car, built on the same underpinnings as the latest Grande Punto and the Vauxhall Frontera. It will be available as both an SUV and a fastback, a bit like the 408 of sister brand Peugeot, and with petrol, hybrid or electric drivetrains. The new Fiat’s projected name might prove to have a bit of a Marmite factor however – the Grizzly…
Where can I try a Fiat car?
Fiat has around 80 dealerships across the UK, which is significantly less than before the brand became part of Stellantis, when it had around 125 outlets.
The dealer network is well spread across the UK, even those based in the north of Scotland not having too far to travel to try out a Fiat.
What makes Fiat different to the rest?
Fiat has always traded on that image of style that attaches itself to anything Italian. While the brand has had issues with its average safety features and at times reliability, its cars generally look good, especially inside.
Applied in more recent times to small cars, the image has survived into the electric age with some of the 500e’s best scores being for its style.
A Fiat fact to impress your friends
Fiat once had one of the world’s most famous factories, because it had a test track on its roof. When opened in 1923 after seven years of construction, Lingotto in Turin was one of the largest car plants in the world, but was most renowned for its production line that started on the ground and wound its way up five floors.
Finished cars emerged onto the mile-long rooftop test track, with banked corners on either end, before descending a spiral to ground level to go on sale. Immortalised in the movie The Italian Job, Lingotto built its last car in 1982, and now houses Fiat offices and a posh hotel.
Summary
Fiat has had it tough in recent times, relying on small car sales and becoming a less significant manufacturer as a result.
Now under the wing of Stellantis, the brand has had to rethink a planned resetting for the electric age to respond to the market deciding petrol cars still have life in them. Fiat sales have continued to suffer, but it seems determined to pursue a path that will primarily focus on small cars with an image in order more fashion-conscious buyers.
This feature was originally published in July 2025 and updated in July 2026.
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