Fiat
Early in 1969 Fiat took a 50% stake in Ferrari. An immediate result was an increase in available investment funds, and work started at once on a factory extension intended to transfer production from Fiat's Turin plant of the Ferrari engined Fiat Dino. New model investment further up in the Ferrari range also received a boost.
Less positive was the effect on industrial relations at Ferrari's Maranello plant. In June a visiting journalist witnessed a group of workers suddenly running out of a work-shop in response to the blast of a whistle: this was part of an industrial stoppage originating at the main Fiat plant in Turin, and contrasted with the relatively smooth state of production that the writer had witnessed at competitor plants nearby.
While increased Fiat influence was quickly felt in the development, production and marketing of road cars, the racing department remained initially little touched by Fiat's new status within the company as chief investor.
Read more about this topic: History Of Ferrari, 1969
Famous quotes containing the word fiat:
“Then for the Style; Majestick and Divine,
It speaks no less than God in every Line:
Commanding words; whose Force is still the same
As the first Fiat that produc’d our Frame.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)