Fiat, which stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, or Italian Automobile Factory of Turin in English, is an Italian public auto manufacturer. It currently produces a number of compact cars, most of which aren't sold in the United States of America, though the Fiat 500 is the one recent exception. Fiat also owns a number of other companies, such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati, and holds a small portion of a number of other companies.
Fiat's History in the USA
Fiat's first attempt to reach the North American market was cancelled due to bad press. The popular phrase used to describe them was "Fix It Again Tony", partially due to a lot of their cars being unusual under the hood (for one, they were front-wheel drive, which was unusual to see at the time), and partially due to rust and other reliability issues. To avoid further mocking and negative press, Fiat pulled out of the market for almost 30 years.
Fiat currently owns Chrysler and all the brands within the company.