Fiat S.p.A. (also known as the FIAT Group) is an automobile manufacturer, financial and industrial group based in Turin, Northern Italy.

The name is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Car Factory of Turin), founded by a group of investors--Giovanni Agnelli among them--in 1899. His grandson Gianni Agnelli was Fiat chairman from 1966 until his death on January 24, 2003. Umberto Agnelli then took over the reigns as chairman from 2002.

It is Italy's largest industrial concern. It also has significant worldwide operations, operating in 61 countries with 1,063 companies that employ over 223,000 people, 111,000 of whom are outside Italy.

Fiat corporation, starting from the late 1960s, has bought (or gained control of) a wide range of companies, including: well known firms like Ferrari, Lancia, Autobianchi (already bought by Lancia), Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Innocenti, and Citroën (sold shortly afterward in 1976). Fiat also owns some brands of industrial vehicles including OM and Iveco.

The group is present in many countries, not only in the West. Notably, it was one of the first companies to built factories in soviet controlled countries, with the best known examples in Vladivostok, Kyiv and Togliattigrad. Being AutoVAZ (Lada). Fiat also has a subsidiary in Poland at Tychy, (formerly called FSM) where Fiat's small cars (the 126, Cinquecento and now Seicento) are made. Fiat has factories in Brazil, Turkey, China and India, where local variants of Fiats are produced as well as the world car, the Palio.

Fiat ceased importing cars into the United States in 1984, and Australia in 1989 however, they continued to be imported into Canada, as did Soviet versions of Fiat models.

Fiat has articulated that it wishes to focus on expanding into third-world markets because, in the words of former chairman Paolo Fresco, “those are the only markets where you can expect growth.” And it is true that Fiat’s specialization in smaller cars puts it at an advantage in those markets, but cars sold in third-world countries tend to be much simpler than those sold elsewhere (e.g., most lack air conditioning), and thus require much less money to develop.