Fiat Uno, the vehicle from the future

After having recounted the story of the Fiat Uno’s “rivoluzionosa” ad campaign, Heritage Stellantis’ team now presents a second video which reveals how special this Fiat icon created 40 years ago is in terms of technological innovation applied to design and production. Roberto Giolito, Head of Stellantis Heritage (Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Abarth), takes viewers on this journey with images from the Centro Storico Fiat and memorabilia conserved at the Heritage Hub.

Technological innovation is the common thread which runs through the Fiat Uno’s 40 years of history, as demonstrated by its spectacular debut in front of the international press on January 19, 1983, at Cape Canaveral (USA), a city representing the conquest of outer space. It was the perfect setting for a model destined to redefine the paradigm of city cars and change the history of the Italian brand.

The Fiat Uno represents a sea change in the automotive sector thanks to the achievement of various firsts: the extensive use of robots in the production process, a new and fruitful relationship between the Centro Stile and Engineering, and the establishment of what today we call Functional Design. Everything was designed to obtain the highest level of quality, which is exactly what one would expect from the most innovative model in the segment. A notable leap in quality was made thanks in part to considerable financial investment made. In fact, with five years of research and design and a budget of about one trillion Lire, it was the most significant investment Fiat had made in a vehicle up until then.