The Fiat 126 (Type 126) is a rear-engined, small economy or city car, introduced in October 1972 at the Turin Auto Show as a replacement for the Fiat 500. The majority of 126s were produced in Bielsko-Biała, Poland, as the Polski Fiat 126p, where production continued until year 2000. In many markets Fiat stopped sales of the 126 in 1993 in favour of their new front-engined Cinquecento At a vehicle length of 3.05 metres, the Fiat 126 is almost exactly the same size as the original British Mini, and although it came to market 14 years later, production ended in the same year (2000), and its total sales of almost 4.7 million units were in close range of the Mini's 5.4 million. In Poland the car became a cultural icon and earned the nickname Maluch, meaning "The Little One" or "Toddler".
History of FiAT 126P
- 1972 – the FSM car factory was built in Bielsko-Biała.
- 6 June 1973 – the first Polski Fiat 126p constructed from Italian parts. The official price was 69,000 Polish złotys with PKO Bank Polski accepting pre-payments on savings books starting 5 February 1973.
- 22 July 1973 – the official opening of the factory's production line (by the end of that year over 1500 Fiats were manufactured).
- September 1975 – production started in a factory in Tychy.
- 1977 – engine capacity increased from 594 cc to 652 cc. Engine power increased to about 24 horsepower (18 kW).
- 1978 – production of types with engine capacity 594 cc ended.
- 1979 – production of Polski Fiat 126p continued only in Bielsko-Biała.
- 1981 – 1,000,000th Polski Fiat 126p produced.
- December 1984 – technical changes in the construction and body. Type FL introduced.
- 1987 – beginning of the production of the water-cooled Polski Fiat 126p Bis version – a three-door hatchback with 704 cc capacity.
- May 1993 – 3,000,000th Polish Fiat 126p produced.
September 1994 – body improvement, creating type "el" with parts similar to those used in Fiat Cinquecento. - January 1997 – introduction of a catalytic converter.
- 22 September 2000 – production ended after a production run of 3,318,674 units. All Fiats of the last limited Happy End series were yellow or red (500 cars in red and 500 cars in yellow).
The global production of this amiable car was 4,673,655 units: 1,352,912 in Italy, 2,069 in Austria by Fiat-Steyr and 3,318,674 in Poland.