Fiat Lingotto Factory

Fiat’s Lingotto factory was completed in 1923. Unlike any other automobile factory to date, the factory featured a spiral assembly line that moved up through the building and a concrete banked rooftop test track.

In the wake of World War I, when Fiat returned to making cars, they held 80% of the automotive market share in Italy. Aside from a brief employee communist uprising in 1921, things were going well at Fiat and the company was ready to expand. The Lingotto factory in Turin you see here is the result of that expansion.

Building of the Lingotto factory began while World War I was still raging in 1916. 7 years later, in 1923, Lingotto was completed and ready to open for business. It was the biggest automobile factory Europe had ever seen and was the second largest in the world. Upon its completion, Lingotto instantly became of a symbol of Italy’s proud manufacturing history. Only Ford’s massive River Rouge Factory Complex could compare in size and scale… read more >