Scared off by the financial consequences of extreme design, and more concerned with putting its mainstream car business on the right track, Fiat wasn’t really interested in the surprise and delight market as the 1980s turned into the 1990s. This simply wasn’t good for Fiat’s new boss however, Paulo Canterella was a passionate car enthusiasts, [...]

Plenty of publicity surrounded the launch of Fiat’s mainstream hatchbacks in 1978. The Strada was said to have been built by robots, and the usually avant grade styling seemed to confirm that the car was a high tech production. Typically, it became known more for unreliability and rampant rust. Fiat’s replacement for the Strada stuck [...]

It was typical of Fiat’s design bravery to build a people’s car that harked back to the simplicity of the Citroen 2CV. It wanted to appeal to drivers who wanted ultra simplicity and a low price tag. The truth was the Fiat really needed to build lots of small cars very cheaply to try and [...]

The Fiat X1/ 9 brought mid engined handling sophistication of sort that had previously been reversed for the exclusive owners of cars like of Lamborghinis and Ferraris to a mass audience. It was a daring move, and it paid off beautifully. Launched to a rapturous reception from the world’s motoring press in 1972, Bertone’s razor [...]

In the mid 1960s, Ferrari needed a large company to build its Formula Two V6 engine in quantity, while Fiat wanted to produce an up market sports car with real credibility. The result of the liaison was an instant classic, the Fiat Dino, Spider and Coupe. The innovative square camshaft all alloy, 54 level V6 [...]

The Fiat 124 Spider is the most commercially successful Italian sports car ever. It was popular when it was launched, it was popular throughout its production life, and even today the car has a surprising amount of committed enthusiasts who are proud of their little piece of Italian motoring genius. With a belt drive, twin [...]

Although, Renault may claim, to have invented the space efficient people carrier with the Escape in the 1980s, it was Fiat who actually got there first with the Multipla, albeit 30 years too early. That is surely enough to earn the vehicle a place in the automobile history books, given the way that the people [...]

Fiat first mooted a flagship V8 in the late 1940s, but the big saloon prototype proved to be too heavy and slothful. Fiat’s top brass were not impressed, and the project lost momentum. That left a 70 degree 2 liter V8 engine going begging, so why not fit it to a sports car? Enter the [...]

After the very pretty 465 GT 2+2, Ferrari stumbled from a styling point of view, with its next two GT cars. Neither of the 550/ 575 Maranello, nor the 612 Scaglietti were the best of Pininfarina designs. Some driving experts also questioned the on limit abilities of the 575M and fewer buyers than Ferrari would [...]

Only three years after the Ferrari’s ultimate F50 Supercar was launched, company bosses started work on another ultimate model. The F50 was an attempt to take Formula 1 technology and translate directly into a road car. But many at Ferrari felt that for all its capabilities the F50 had gone too far in trying to [...]