The Fiat 12 HP is a car from Fiat, built from 1901 to 1902, when a car was a rich man's adventure and every maker was a workshop. Under the bonnet: 3770 cc I4. Giovanni Enrico drew it.
How it came about
The Fiat 12 HP is a car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1901 and 1902. The car was designed by the engineer Giovanni Enrico, successor to the Faccioli who had engineered the first three Fiat models, it was the first Fiat and one of the first cars of this era equipped with a two-block four-cylinder engines. It was manufactured in 106 copies in the plant Corso Dante. A racing version was also made the 12 HP 1901 Corsa which incorporated the same engine.
The maximum speed was 78 kilometres per hour (48 mph). This car put an end to the domination of Panhard on European courses. At the end of 1901, a version equipped with a new engine is also proposed. This received a four-cylinder 7475 cc engine with a bore and stroke of 115 mm × 180 mm (4.53 in × 7.09 in), producing 28 PS (21 kW) at 750 rpm and allowing it to reach a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour (56 mph).
The hardware
Power comes from 3770 cc I4. It weighs 1220 kg. It shifts through a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2140 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Fiat 10 HP; its successor was the Fiat 16-20 HP; assembly was at Corso Dante plant, Turin, Italy. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Mercedes-Benz Mercedes 35 hp, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, the Panhard & Levassor type B tonneau — show what else the money bought that year. Its Fiat stablemates include the FIAT 702 and the Fiat 1.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Fiat 12 HP — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.