[3] The FSO plant was established in 1948 by the Communist Polish government in Żerań on Warsaw's eastern bank of the river Vistula, to produce automobiles for post World War II Poland.

In 1953, an in-house team started development of a smaller and cheaper to manufacture car resulting in FSO's second model, the two-stroke Syrena.

The Syrena, introduced in 1957, was a proprietary design of FSO; and its production was moved to the FSM car factory (Fabryka Samochodów Małolitrażowych).

After the end of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, the Fall of Communism in Poland, and with the Warsaw Pact Eastern Europe in 1989, the Polish government sought to privatize FSO by establishing a partnership with an international automaker to secure its future.

The first full-fledged venture started in 1994, when an agreement with General Motors was signed to assemble Opel Astra in Żerań.

FSO found salvation in the Ukrainian market, where Matiz and Lanos, assembled by the local partner AvtoZAZ, became very popular.

During this period, the Polish government was actively seeking a new strategic partner for FSO, but no major automaker expressed interest.

In mid-2006, the parent company of FSO, UkrAVTO, signed a licence agreement with General Motors to produce the Chevrolet Aveo (T250) saloon, and since July 2008, the 3 and 5-door hatchback.

Despite the sale of some of the assets, the company's authorities declared their willingness to start production within a few months of signing the contract with a potential investor, announcing the possibility of achieving the plant's performance of 250,000. cars a year.

In August 2014, the president of FSO in an interview assured that despite the lack of production, the company's condition was good and it did not have debt, and even made a profit.

The FSO capital group diversified its activities by producing exhaust systems, MacPherson struts, fuel tanks, car electrical beams, fences, lamps, Lego blocks, subassemblies for household appliances, the group also sold and serviced cars and rented production halls and office spaces.

In 2017, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Poland, acting on behalf of the Treasury, filed a complaint with AvtoZAZ for failure to fulfil its obligations under the share purchase agreement.