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FIAT cars is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Lingotto. The Lingotto is in the city of Turin and is FIAT’s former test track and a former factory. But now the company is saying that this iconic building in Turin, Italy, with a rooftop test track (!) will serve as a design inspiration for its next generation of cars. What does that mean?

The Lingotto used to be the largest auto plant in the world

The new cars from FIAT will be “Lingotto inspired,” the brand said. What does that mean? Well, for now it seems a bit nebulous in that FIAT says the goal is to “inspire change and make a sustainable future accessible to all.” For FIAT, less will be more.

In reality, that means less material and more space. The new interior design markers for future cars will be based on the company’s Lingotto building, which is the home of the brand in Torino, Italy. The building is so important to FIAT that it’s a design marker for future cars. The dashboard of one of the brand’s future cars, which has not been announced, will feature a design inspired by the Longotto’s test track in an oval shape, for example.

What is the Lingotto Building?

the rooftop test track on top of the Lingotto building in Torino, Italy.
FIAT built a test track on the roof of the Lingotto with banked corners | FIAT

The Lingotto building was opened 100 years ago. It was the base for FIAT’s production and design for years. However, in the 1980s FIAT repurposed the building into shops and offices. Today it’s now a museum called the Pinacoteca Agnelli that features the FIATCafe500, La Pista 500 with FIAT-inspired art installations, and more.

The centerpiece of the Lingotto is La Pista 500, the largest hanging garden in Europe. It has more than 40,000 plants, a hazelnut grove, and a meditation garden. According to Top Gear, the Lingotto was where the 1969 movie “The Italian Job” started.

How will cars be inspired by Lingotto?

Interior of a FIAT concept car in green and red
A concept car showing Lingotto-inspired curves | FIAT
A FIAT concept car showing Lingotto-inspired windows | FIAT

FIAT says future cars will be inspired by signature aspects of the Lingotto. The most famous part of the building is its rooftop test track. The company will use design elements from the Lingotto. That means we will see representations of the oval test track and the building’s generous windows that span five floors in its cars.

In some images, Fiat is showing off oval consoles that flip and spin out of the dash. Also, the dash itself is an oval. The door handles look like the building if seen from the air.  It’s also showing that new cars will have the same light, airy, glass greenhouses, inspired by the giant glass bulb on top of the Lingotto, as well as the factory windows that bathed workers in sunlight all day.

International automotive group Stellantis owns FIAT, as well as Dodge, Jeep, Maserati, Peugeot and others. The name FIAT is in all capital letters because it was originally an acronym for Fabrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, or Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin. Today it sells several versions of the sub-compact 500 in the US  in two-door and four-door versions.

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Whatever Happened to Fiat?

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Dan Mayfield

Dan joined MotorBiscuit in 2022 with over 20 years of experience in journalism and a lifelong passion for anything related to the automotive industry. He grew up wrenching a 1949 Ford pickup truck and an MGB with his dad, learning how not to wire a fuel pump (he inadvertently set the MGB on fire).

After earning a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of New Mexico, Dan has contributed his expertise to a range of local outlets, including the City of Albuquerque, US Eagle, and the Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity.

On weekends, Dan spends Saturdays enjoying “cars and coffee” chats and, on Sundays, he’s watching the Route 66 Cruise roll through town. He also races motorcycles, and it’s not unusual to find him elbows-deep in his latest cafe racer build.

Taking advantage of the local desert terrain, Dan also enjoys exploring and driving off-road in his trusty Ram Rebel pickup truck, which provides personal insights into his contributions to our Trucks, SUVs, & Crossovers coverage. Dan strives to give our readers unique information about the dynamic automotive market, reading anything that has to do with cars, trucks, bikes, 4X4s, and, in his words, “everything with a motor.”

Dan has earned a number of accolades from the Public Relations Society of America, and is a University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism Fellow.