TORINO, Italy: There’s no doubting Italy’s ability to produce beautiful, functional and efficient cars. Some of the world’s most famous brands come from the country, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, and of course Fiat (the most modest of the bunch). It was only fitting that the PLANT’s recent media delegation hosted by Machines Italia and the Italian Trade Commission should stop over in Torino to visit the facility that’s responsible for that little car that’s seen on Canadian roads, it’s uber-cool 500 model. The Torino-based company is most widely known for its cars, but it has

Though not the flashiest Italian car manufacturer, automotive firm Fiat has long been a staple of the country's industrial sector, providing vehicles to a wider mass market than its local brethren: —the Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis that cater only to the elite. As such, the firm's research and development center, with a main base in Orbassano, Turin, is constantly thinking up ways to reinvent its automotive products in cost effective ways, from their physical design to their fuel efficiency, safety features and beyond. Established in 1978 as the Fiat Group reference center for