The ANSALDO Automobile Society was formed immediately after the First World War as a result of the cessation of the production of military equipment at one of the largest Italian industrial concerns, ANSALDO. The production base provided for the production of cars was at a high technical level and made it possible to manufacture very high-quality cars. No wonder the cars “ANSALDO’ ’more than 10 years to meet the highest requirements.
It all began in 1914, when the war was just beginning. Guido Soria, the chief engineer of the ANSALDO plant for the production of aircraft engines, thought about the future - about the post-war restructuring and civilian production. Even then, he suggested that the director of the Pio Perrone company should manufacture automobile products.
In August 1919, the first prototype of “ANSALDO-4A” was created at the military enterprise in Sempierdarena, and in March of the following year, the model began to go on sale. It was a classic middle class car. The power of its 4-cylinder engine with overhead camshaft with a working volume of 1847 cm3 reached 35 hp, the chassis weighed 647 kg. In September 1920, the production model was transferred to Turin, in the workshop of the reconstructed former aircraft factory. At the very beginning of its activities, the young car company almost ceased to exist, since its main shareholder - the Italian “Bank di Cconto” - went bankrupt. This led to a new restructuring at the firm, after which she managed to stay afloat.
From March 7, 1923, it became known as the “Joint Stock Company of ANSALDO cars". Guiseppe Mazzini was appointed its president and Guido Soria was appointed director. The first version of the car was modernized and appeared under the “4C” brand. with a 6-cylinder 2-liter engine. In the most comfortable versions, with a high-powered engine, with the most complete set of equipment, they were called “4CS” and “6CS”.
In 1930, when the economic crisis broke out, the company had to hastily modernize all its products. In addition, they released a simple “Tipo-10”, but it was let down by a very primitive front suspension. The car could not compete with similar models Fiat-503 and “509”. It was followed by more advanced “Tipo-14” battery-ignited and “Tipo-15”, whose engine cylinders were squandered, which increased the power to 40 hp. Not receiving a decent recognition from the public with its small models, “Ansaldo” again decided to focus on the largest cars. “Tipo-18” and “Tipo-22” with 6-and 8-cylinder engines entered the market - models that absorbed all the best achievements of their time, but never accepted by buyers who were busy solving their difficult financial problems.
In 1932, the ANSALDO company was swallowed up by the large Italian engineering company OM, and on its basis the new company CAVA was created, which collected and sold the remaining 400 chassis from its predecessor.
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