Lingotto: Not all car factories are sterile and dull

For the most part, car factories are much of a muchness. Few stand out as anything particularly bold.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as Volkswagen's ‘Transparent Factory’ at Dresden, Rolls-Royce’s grass-roofed facility at Goodwood and McLaren’s Bond-villain lair at Woking – but when it comes to iconic car plants, nothing really gets close to Fiat’s Lingotto building on Via Nizza, Turin, which celebrates its centenary this year.

The design of the building was daring in its scope and execution, with the raw materials entering at the ground floor, whereupon the production line ascended through five storeys before emerging at rooftop level onto the banked 1.5km-long test track.

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The last time I was at the Lingotto was for Fiat’s centenary in 1999. We were sampling the facelifted Punto and were scheduled to arrive back at the Lingotto for a gala dinner.

Upon arriving at the building, I noticed that the spiral ramps up to the roof were unattended, so I thought I’d go for a drive up.

Once on the rooftop, I decided it would be a shame to waste the opportunity of going for a lap or twelve and can report that things got very exciting when rounding one of the banked sections, whereupon a huge bump would fling the car into the air, pitching it about a metre sideways towards the concrete wall in the process.

While airborne, you got a wonderful view over the rooftops of Turin, but that’s probably by the by.

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McLaren Technology Centre in Woking.

Having joined the dinner, I realised the guest next to me for dinner was Henry Kissinger.

Aware that I was probably out of my depth when it came to US foreign relations of the 1970s, I instead regaled him with my story of driving on the roof of the Lingotto. He seemed very impressed.

It was at that point that Fiat’s chairman took to the stage and rattled off a list of achievements and then future aspirations, one of which involved recommissioning the roof of the Lingotto building, as “it has been many years since it has been in a safe condition for driving.”

Kissinger stared at me. His expression was hangdog, dark. I didn’t really know what to say, so just reddened and wondered how long it had been since he had been exposed to this level of buffoonery. Maybe he just wasn’t geared up for it.

After what seemed like an eternity, he broke into gales of laughter. I laughed along in a good-natured, self-deprecating fashion. Long after I’d stopped, he was still going. I moved to another table. Henry Kissinger was far too good at being a giant arse for me to compete with.

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Kissinger stared at me. His expression was hangdog, dark. I wondered how long it had been since he had been exposed to this level of buffoonery.

Like the Lingotto building, Kissinger celebrated his centenary this year, the last living politician of the Nixon cabinet. His legacy remains chequered. The Lingotto building only grows in significance for Fiat despite the fact that cars are no longer built there. In fact, the last car built at the plant wasn’t even a Fiat but a Lancia Delta in 1982.

Olivier Francois, Fiat’s CEO, points to the design themes of the Lingotto influencing Fiat design from 2024. “At Fiat we think that the Lingotto and the track are such a landmark that they deserve to become design markers,” he claimed.

Oval-shaped design motifs and a focus on attention to detail and lightness are the Lingotto’s legacy. La bella fabbrica? It’s a century-old signpost to Fiat’s way forward. US secretaries of state? Much of a muchness, I reckon.