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Fiat 600 - Argentinien
South America came right behind Spain, with Seat, on Fiat's list of countries to be conquered. Starting in 1954, tractors were produced there in cooperation with a state-owned company, and from 1955 onwards, large
engines were also produced. Two years later, production ofdiesel locomotives began .
From 1958 onwards, cars like the Fiat 600 pictured above, called 'Fitito,' which means 'little Fiat,' were imported. Starting in 1959, the government decided to intensively promote the domestic automotive industry. Fiat then
set up an assembly line at its factory in Caseros.
Thus, the first Fiat 600 rolled off the assembly line in 1960, albeit with parts mostly imported from Italy. Only the engine and transmission were manufactured at the Ferreyra plant in Córdoba. Body production only began
later in El Palomar, Buenos Aires. The company was almost completely independent of Italian origins.
The Fiat 600 was available with the letters 'D', 'E', 'R' like the one pictured above, and 'S'. The first one still had the forward-opening suicide doors. The engines had displacements of just under 700 to just under 850 cc. The
600 from 1962 onwards achieved 23.5 kW (32 hp) and, in good spirits, 115 km/h, a little more than the Fusca (VW Beetle) in Brazil.
| In the 1960s and 1970s, Fiat was the most important private business group, with 20,000 employees
in Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Santa Fe. |
| Brazil is the most important automobile producer in South America. |
VW had already built a factory in Brazil in 1953, a country with almost half the population of South America, compared to Argentina's only about 10 percent. However, there was a tendency to believe that they built better cars
than Brazil. Could there be any truth to this, since VW later imported the Beetle from Mexico, not Brazil?
| Competition in the country: Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Citroën, Fiat, Peugeot, Renault, trucks
from Deutz, Scania and Mercedes Benz. |
Back to the small Fiat, which, despite overwhelming competition, became a bestseller between 1968 and 1971. The Argentinians had simply learned to make do with the space and not to fully load the engine, which would
have caused it to overheat. But the purchase price and fuel consumption were both low.
No, the model shown above is very well maintained, but not in its original form. For example, the attractive rims look as if they weren't quite stock. The bumpers, on the other hand, are reminiscent of those of the VW Beetle.
The 600 probably underwent almost as many changes in Argentina as the Beetle did in Germany.
In 1982, production of the Fiat 600 was discontinued after just over 300,000 units had been manufactured. Its successor was the 147. However, Fiat also had larger vehicles in its range, such as the Fiat 1100 D and later
the Fiat 1500. By 1967, Fiat's market share was already 23 percent, a very good figure considering the competition.
The oil price crisis and subsequent dictatorship were making life difficult for Fiat in Argentina. Until now, the company had been protected from the outside by import tariffs. These are now being lifted, and a flood of
Japanese vehicles is pouring in.
The oil price crisis and subsequent dictatorship are making life difficult for Fiat in Argentina. Until now, the company had been protected from the outside by import tariffs. These are now being canceled , and a flood of
Japanese vehicles is pouring in.
Today, it's said that Fiat has handled the political unrest and crises in Argentina reasonably well and stabilized its position in the country. Partly by shifting business to Brazil, it appears to have remained a significant player
in the region.
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