How Did FIAT and ALFA Get Their Names and Where Did the Famous Italian Automobile Brands Come From?

FIAT, or Fabbrica Itailana Automobili Torino, was formed in a 1903 takeover of Ceirano, which had been founded in 1901 to make cars under Renault licence using a deDion engine.

Ceirano’s assets included a racecar driver named Vincenzo Lancia.

In a similar 1910 move, a group of Milanese businessmen took over a factory set up to produce Darracq 4-cylinder taxicabs.

This group was called Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, or ALFA.