It was founded in 1880 as Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano.

Fiat Ferroviaria acquired the rail business of SIG of Switzerland in 1995, forming the subsidiary Fiat-Sig.

[3][4][5] During the 1960s and 1970s, Fiat Ferroviaria developed a tilting technology for trains and was the first (and the only one for several decades) to produce active tilting trains with the trademark of Pendolino.

Following the success of the ETR 450 series introduced in Italy in 1988 (the 401 series introduced in 1976 consisted of only 2 trainsets and never operated regular commercial service, working more like an "on-wheel laboratory"), tilting systems including bogies, traction, electric and electronic equipment were ordered by several countries: In February 1999, Virgin Trains West Coast ordered a fleet of Class 390s from Alstom that incorporated Fiat Ferroviaria tilting technology.

[6][7] Directly or indirectly, 18 countries throughout the world applied the Italian Fiat Ferroviaria tilting technology to their trains, including the United States and China.