FIAT Goes it Alone: the Italian Car Industry, the Government and the Crisis of the 2000s

After decades of public aid, FIAT went into the 2000s without help from the state. While this initially threatened to lead to bankruptcy, it subsequently proved a key factor in the company's transformation from a national into a global player.

Its ties with the state, formerly viewed as a means of survival and development, have gradually loosened, and FIAT has begun an autonomous process of expansion which has given it a new structural power to shift investment and production from Italy towards countries offering better conditions and favourable enterprise policies. The present article analyses this process, FIAT's change in strategy with regard to the government, and the possible consequences of a downsizing in Italy of what is now the nation's only multinational manufacturing company.