S.P.A. (Società Piemontese Automobili) was an Italian

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

, military vehicle and

aero-engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbine ...

manufacturer founded in Turin by

Matteo Ceirano Matteo Ceirano (1870 in Cuneo – 19 March 1941 in Torino) was an Italian businessman in the early automobile industry who co-founded the manufacturers Ceirano; Itala Fabbrica Automobili in 1904 and Società Piemontese Automobili (S.P.A.) in ...

and Michele Ansaldi. It was active between 1906 and 1926. In 1908, it merged with Fabbrica Ligure Automobili Genova (FLAG) and the new company, Società Ligure Piemontese Automobili, was headquartered in Genoa while manufacturing in Turin. In 1923 it moved to Turin and in 1925 was taken over by

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

, whereby car manufacture ceased but commercial and military vehicle production continued. Although car production resumed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, by 1947 the company was fully absorbed into Fiat.

Ceirano family background

The Ceirano brothers,

Giovanni Battista Giovanni Battista was a common Italian given name (see Battista for those with the surname) in the 16th-18th centuries. It refers to "John the Baptist" in English, the French equivalent is "Jean-Baptiste". Common nicknames include Giambattista, G ...

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

Ernesto Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to: * ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975 ** ''Ernesto'' (film), a 1979 Italian drama loosely ba ...

and Matteo, were influential in the founding of the Italian auto industry, being variously responsible for : Ceirano; Welleyes (the technical basis of F.I.A.T.);

Fratelli Ceirano Fratelli Ceirano & C was an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1901 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano and his brother Matteo Ceirano after they had left F.I.A.T. Their own automobile manufacturing business, Ceirano GB & C and its ''Welleyes'' ...

; S.T.A.R./Rapid (

Società Torinese Automobili Rapid Società Torinese Automobili Rapid, also known as S.T.A.R. and Rapid, was an Italian car manufacturer founded by Giovanni Battista Ceirano in Turin in July 1904. ''Rapid'' was its trademark. In 1921 it was acquired by the S.P.A. (Società Pie ...

); SCAT (Società Ceirano Automobili Torino);

Itala Itala may refer to: * Itala (company), an Italian car manufacturer ** Itala Special, a special custom-built Grand Prix race car * Itala (given name), an Italian given name * Itala, Sicily, a municipality in Sicily * Itala Film, an Italian film com ...

and S.P.A. (Società Piemontese Automobili). Giovanni's son Giovanni "Ernesto" was also influential, co-founding Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili (aka Giovanni Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili) and Fabrica Anonima Torinese Automobili (FATA). In 1888, after eight years apprenticeship at his father's watch-making business, Giovanni Battista started building ''Welleyes'' bicycles, so named because English names had more sales appeal.Lancia, the essentials
/ref> In October 1898 Giovanni Battista and Matteo co-founded

Ceirano GB & C Ceirano GB & C was a historic automobile company, founded in October 1888 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano, Emanuele di Bricherasio, Attilio Calligaris, Pietro Fenoglio and Cesare Goria Gatti. The new company was based in Turin, where it began to b ...

and started producing the ''Welleyes'' motor car in 1899. In July 1899 the plant and patents were sold to

Giovanni Agnelli Giovanni Agnelli (13 August 1866 – 16 December 1945) was an Italian industrialist and principal founder of Fiat S.p.A., established in 1899. Under his leadership, Fiat became a cornerstone of Italy's automotive industry, significantly contr ...

and produced as the first F.I.A.T.s - the Fiat 4 HP. Giovanni Battista was employed by Fiat as the agent for Italy, but within a year he left to found Fratelli Ceirano & C. which in 1903 became

(S.T.A.R.) building cars badged as 'Rapid'. In 1904

left Ceirano GB & C to create his own brand -

. In 1906 Matteo left Itala to found S.P.A. (Società Piemontese Automobili) with chief designer, Alberto Ballacco. In 1906 Giovanni founded SCAT (Società Ceirano Automobili Torino) in Turin. In 1919 Giovanni and Giovanni "Ernesto" co-founded Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili (aka Giovanni Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili) and in 1922 they took control of Fabrica Anonima Torinese Automobili (FATA).

History

The company was established in 1906 by

and Michele Ansaldi (founder of Ansaldi automobiles) in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

under the name of Società Piemontese Automobili. The chief designer was Alberto Ballacco. In 1908, the company merged with Fabbrica Ligure Automobili Genova (FLAG) and the new company became Società Ligure Piemontese Automobili. The headquarters was in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

while production continued in Turin. During World War I the company produced aero engines such as the 6A. Shortly afterwards, in 1916, both Ceirano and Ansaldi left. In 1923 the company moved to Turin. Severe financial problems lead to a take-over by Fiat in 1925 and the discontinuation of car manufacture in favor of commercial and military vehicles. After

they resumed car production, but, in 1947, the company was fully absorbed into Fiat.

Cars

The first S.P.A.s designed by Alberto Ballacco and Ceirano were the ''28/40HP'' and ''60/70 HP'' which had four cylinder engines, side valves and live rear axles. They were exhibited at the ''Esposizione di Torino''.''The Complete History of the Motor Car'' by

G.N. Georgano George Nicolas "Nick" Georgano (29 February 1932 – 22 October 2017Nick Georgano
Alvis Archive Bl ...

Ebury Press Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Centu ...

1973. pp 636 By 1907 they also produced two six-cylinder models, one of which had the

flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device that uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy, a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, a ...

mounted at the front of the crankshaft. By 1911 they had introduced ''L-head''

monobloc engine ''Monobloc'' refers to a component that is made in one block or casting. A monobloc engine or en bloc engine is an internal-combustion piston engine some of whose major components (such as cylinder head, cylinder block, or crankcase) are formed, u ...

designs, unitary gearboxes, and

High tension ''High Tension'' (French: ''Haute tension'', ; also known as ''Switchblade Romance'' in some English-speaking countries) is a 2003 French slasher film directed by Alexandre Aja, co-written with Grégory Levasseur, and starring Cécile de France ...

magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

ignition systems. The next year they sold 500 cars and introduced a new four cylinder 14/16 hp engine as the basis of their modern, compact car. By 1914 the range included twin, four and six cylinder cars - the biggest had an 11,536cc displacement. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

production resumed with the pre-war models; the ''14/16 HP'' using a 2.700cc side-valve engine and the 25/30 HP'' using a 4,400cc six cylinder engine. In 1922 the highly sophisticated 30/40 Super Sports was launched, with a 4,400cc six cylinder engine, using twin overhead camshafts (

dohc An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combus ...

) operating four valves per cylinder. The aluminium alloy cylinders had steel liners and aluminium pistons, plus dual carburettors and dual-ignition. The car was also equipped with front-wheel brakes and a V-shaped radiator. By the next year, the sporting range was marketed as ''Tipo 23'', ''Tipo 24'' and ''Tipo 25''.

Racing

In 1908

Ernesto Ceirano Ernesto Ceirano (1875–1953) was an Italian entrepreneur, racing driver and motoring pioneer. Born in Cuneo in 1875, Ceirano was the youngest of four brothers who were pioneers of the Italian car industry. In 1908 he finished third in the Targa ...

finished third in the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo, Sicily, Palermo. Founded in 1906 Targa Florio, 1906, it was the oldest sports car ra ...

driving a four-cylinder, 7,785cc, S.P.A. 28/40 HP. In

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

an S.P.A. racer driven by Francesco Ciuppa won the

race. Completing a single lap of the 148km ''Grande Circuit'' in 2 hours 43 minutes 19 seconds at an average speed of 54.67 km/h.History of Targa Florio
/ref>History of Targa Florio - 1909
/ref>

Range

* 28/40 HP * 50 HP * 60/70 HP * 25/30 HP * 14/16 HP * Tipo 23 * Tipo 23 S * Tipo 24 * Tipo 25

Aero engines

During

the company also produced aero engines. The S.P.A. 6A was a water-cooled inline six-cylinder engine that produced 220 horsepower (164 kW). The SPA 6A was used to power: * Ansaldo A.1 Balilla - Italy's only domestically-produced

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

; *

Ansaldo SVA The Ansaldo SVA (named for Savoia-Verduzio-Ansaldo) was a family of Italian reconnaissance biplane aircraft of World War I and the decade after. Originally conceived as a fighter, the SVA was found inadequate for that role. Its impressive spe ...

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

biplane; * Breda A.2 - a 1921 Italian sport and touring aircraft; * Breda A.3; * Breda A.9 and A.9bis - a 1928 Italian

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

trainer for the ''Regia Aeronautica''; * CANT 7 - a 1920 Italian

Flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

; * Marchetti MVT/ SIAI S.50 - a 1919-1920s Italian

Military vehicles

* SPA 9000 da 102/35 * Dovunque 35 * Dovunque 35 protetto * Dovunque 41 * 25C/10 (''see

Ursus A Ursus A was a series of Polish lorries and buses produced by Ursus. It was a license-built modification of the Italian SPA 25C Polonia trucks. In 1924 the Polish government ordered a large series of license-built, 3-ton Berliet CBA lorries an ...

'') * 36R * 38R * S37 * AS37 * AS42 * AS43 * CL39 * TL37 * TM40 * A-10000

References

External links

Società Piemontese Automobili unofficial site
* ttp://www.spa-militare.com/ SPA Militare {{Authority control Ceirano family Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Italy Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of Italy Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1906 Italian companies established in 1906 Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Turin Fiat Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars