The FIAT Emblem - 1901
Two years on from the foundation of the Turin Company, vehicle production moved to a fully industrial scale. It was no longer a matter of vehicles resembling carriages that were only produced in small numbers, but proper motor cars conceived along innovative design principles, featuring grille or honeycomb radiators.
It was indeed in the spring of 1901 that Fiat presented the 12 HP. Designed by the engineer Giovanni Enrico, successor to the engineer Aristide Faccioli, it was the first Turin vehicle with a four-cylinder engine featuring a two-piece cylinder block design, formed that is to say from a pair of twin cylinders. This model also marked new developments in production and sales, with one hundred and six cars manufactured and for the first time exported beyond Italy's frontiers - to France, to be precise.
Emphasising this promising debut, the Company debut, the Company decided to distinguish the 12 HP with a true trademark. This took the form of an enamelled brass plate with graphic elements in Liberty style. Abandoning the characters of the previous creation by the painter Carpanetto, the word Fiat took on a new presentation and a different style. In the centre of the trademark, enclosed in a rectangle, the Fiat name appeared without full stops, and the letter A featured a distinctive curve top right that made way for the letter T while balancing the other characters. Balance, solidity and identity were the qualities conveyed. The latter, in particular, was underlined by the fact that there were no full stops between the letters, indicating that the acronym was then in common use and there was no longer any confusion or divergent readings. It can be no coincidence that the company name was written in full but confined to the bottom part of the trademark, shifting all attention to the name Fiat.
The other graphic elements are of equal interest Surmounting the company name that closed off the trademark along the bottom was a rising sun, spreading rays that extended to the acronym. The latter, inserted in a rectangle located in the centre of the emblem, was supported by two bushes that symbolised the florid growth of the company. Amplifying these signs of prosperity, a golden yellow colour stood out against the blue background to accentuate the rising sun and spreading light, a historic symbol of life. Finally, a small rectangle at the top contained the chassis number.