e New Holland-owned Fiat brand of tractors introduced its rst machine
to the world just over a century ago. It was borne out of the very practical post-
World War I needs of the Italian farmers it initially serviced
138
THE I N T E RWAR TRACTOR
Although Fabbrica Italiana de Automobili Torino (Fiat) was
founded in 1889 to build passenger vehicles, the company
started developing agricultural machines 30 years later.
With the start of World War I, this side project was
interrupted, but in 1918, with fi ghting coming to an end,
serious labor shortages and war-damaged fi elds meant
there was an urgent need for a signifi cant increase in
European agricultural productivity to feed a hungry and
traumatized people. It was into this environment that Fiat’s
fi rst tractor, the Model 702, rolled off the assembly line.
Specifi cally developed to meet as many static and
dynamic applications as it could, the vehicle’s steering
front axle and rigid rear axle was an unconventional set up
at the time. In addition, while the tractors from rival fi rm
Fordson were designed for the loose and generally level
fi elds in North America, the Model 702’s load-bearing
powertrain eliminated the need for a chassis and so was
more able to cope with ploughing the hard soil of the
undulating European fi elds that had been neglected during
The Great War. Powered by a 4-cylinder, 6.2l engine, the
vehicle had a maximum output of 30hp.
Following extensive fi eld testing, the agricultural machine
was presented to the Italian authorities on August 14, 1918.
An impressive performance in a ploughing match quickly led
to supply agreements with industry consortia across Italy
and Fiat started production on the fi rst 1,000 units – making
it Fiat’s fi rst mass-produced tractor as well as also marking
the dawn of the mechanization of Italian agriculture.
The lighter Model 700 and a derivative, the Model 700C
– Europe’s fi rst crawler tractor – followed a decade later
and, in a subsequent merger with New Holland, the
company has gone from strength to strength. New
Holland’s parent company CNH Industrial is just
concluding a year of celebrations to mark the centenary of
this ancestor to the naturally technological superior
tractors that it still produces to this day. iVT
Turn to page 70 for the newest tractor from associate
CNH Industrial brand Case IH
LOOKING BACK.
iVTInternational.com September 2019
New Holland also created
a Fiat Centenario Limited
Edition range to celebrate
the anniversary with special
livery incorporating elements
of the Fiat tractor heritage
CNH Industrial’s Design
Center created the Fiat
Centenario concept tractor,
to celebrate the Model 702’s
100th birthday, inspired
mainly by the 702’s 1980s
successor, the Series 90
One hundred years ago Fiat
Model 702 owners were
the envy of rival farmers
/iVTInternational.com
