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Fiat background and Fiat deals news

Fiat, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, is an Italian automobile and engine manufacturing, financial and industrial group based in Turin in the Piedmont region. It owns and operates brands Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Maserati and Ferrari in Italy. Fiat has also manufactured tanks and aircraft. It was founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli along with several investors. Agnelli led the company until his death in 1945. Fiat’s first car was the 3.5 CV followed by its first truck in 1903. In 1908, the first Fiat was exported to the US as well as the first Fiat aircraft engine produced. Fiat was the largest automotive company in Italy. Fiat-based cars are made around the world, with the largest number produced outside Italy. It has factories in Argentina and Poland. The group's activities were initially focused on the industrial production of cars, industrial and agricultural vehicles.

Fiat now wishes to focus on expanding its markets into the third-world countries as per the desires of its former chairman Paolo Fresco. It starts with an advantage in these markets due to it being a specialist of small cars. However, cars sold in third-world countries tend to be much simpler than those sold elsewhere, and as such require less money to develop. The flagship of Fiat’s current range is the 500. There is also the Grande Punto which has gained popularity. Fiat’s 500 model was the first car in Europe which fully complies (throughout the entire engine range) with the Euro 5 emissions regulations (Euro 5 emissions regulations deal more with dirty pollutants like hydrocarbons). As Fiat largely manufactures fuel-efficient small engine cars, it hasn’t needed to take drastic measures to reduce emissions in its vehicles thus no grand marketing campaigns hailing its own efforts in this area are necessary.

Fiat sold 266,237 cars last year, making it the 16th best-selling manufacturer in the UK. Their most popular model is the Punto, with over 18049 cars registered. The ‘Easy’ trim is a good choice for Fiat buyers in 2016, because it has more features than the Pop but is still sold at a reasonable price.

In the modern era Fiat has invested considerably in new, more efficient engine technologies. The company recently began fitting their cars with a small, two-cylinder engine – dubbed TwinAir – which is the result of a €300 million project. TwinAir engines offer 30% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than traditional four-cylinder engines but with no shortfall in performance.