During the summer holidays, Fiat used to organise a particularly efficient assistance network. In particular, in the 1970s, vehicles of this type were a familiar sight on Italian roads and motorways, ready to come to the aid of Fiat customers.
Rio, based in Cernobbio, Italy, was founded by Reno, Nilo and Diego Tattarletti in 1962. The 1:43 scale die-cast Rio models were among the first model cars designed as collector's items. Initially all Rio models reproduced cars from the pioneering era up to the 1940s, but from the mid-1980s post-war cars were also added to the range. In 2004 Rio was taken over by M4, the manufacturer of the Art Model and Best models. In the following years, re-editions and variations on the models that had been in production for many decades were introduced.