Internationally known as FSO, Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (in English ‘Passenger Automobile Factory’), was a Polish car manufacturer founded in 1951 and operational until 2011.
The factory began building cars in 1951 in an accord with the Soviet carmaker GAZ for the production, under license, of the FSO Warszawa – a copy of the GAZ “M20 Pobjeda” (which is also on display at MAUTO) renamed.
The first car designed and built entirely in-house was the Syrena. The project for this model began in 1953, and the car was presented in 1957. An inexpensive car conceived with the ambitious goal of bringing motorised mobility to post-WW2 Poland, the Syrena was powered by a small two-stroke, two-cylinder engine, following the example set by the better known Trabant (also on display at MAUTO). The Syrena continued to be built for 25 years, even after production was transferred to the FSM plant (Fabryka Samochodów Malolitrazowych in Bielsko-Biała) in 1972. In all, approximately 520,000 examples of this model were produced.
A number of prototypes designed by Ghia – such as the Warszawa 210 – were created a few years later, but these never went into production. In 1965 a new accord was sealed with Fiat for the manufacture of certain Italian models under license in Poland.
While Fiat already had operations in Poland since before the war, with the Polski Fiat brand, its involvement in the country now increased, also as a result of the decision to build a large new plant in a co-partnership venture at Tychy and the subsequent inception of FSM.
Back in Warsaw, FSO began mass production (in 1968) of the Polski Fiat 125P. This, however, was actually very different from its similarly named Italian ‘cousin’: with the engines of the Fiat 1300 and Fiat 1500 under the almost identical bodywork, and offered also as estate and pickup variants, which were not available in Italy. Production of the Polski Fiat 125 P came to an end more than twenty years later, in 1991.
The FSO Polonez – a car still based on the 125P – was launched in 1978, and would dominate the Polish market for over two decades. Despite the relatively modern bodywork penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro, this car was initially still powered by the engines of the Fiat 1500, with which it also shared its mechanicals. The Polonez name appeared on a succession of different series up until 2002, with sedan, estate and pickup versions offered, and even limousine and coupé variants.
In 1989 the Polish government decided to privatise FSO, culminating several years later in its definitive sale to the Korean carmaker Daewoo and the creation of the new brand name Daewoo-FSO. The Korean carmaker started production of its Lanos – renamed FSO Lanos – and Matiz – renamed FSO Matiz – models in the Polish factories alongside the Polonez, which still remained in the range.
Daewoo-FSO effectively became independent again after the Korean parent company went bankrupt and was bought out by General Motors in a deal that did not include its European manufacturing operations. In 2004 the original FSO name was restored, and the carmaker secured the rights to continue producing existing models up until 2011. In 2011, numerous models were taken out of production as the agreement with Daewoo came to an end, and shortly afterwards the factory ceased all manufacturing activities entirely, marking the demise of the carmaker itself.
