Call it help from deep pockets. Their majority shareholder is the Italian government. The forte of the company is small, fuel efficient cars.
There are some other "divisions" of FIAT that offer more interesting products; Alfa Romeo, Lancia, and Ferrari. Back in the day Fiat offered the X1/9, which was gutless power-wise, but handled like a slot car. Their electrical systems were almost as bad as the British of the era, and the only heaters that were worse were in the old Beetle. They were rust magnets, too.
Back in the day, the Fiat Dino Spider and Coupe were both imported to the US. They carried a Ferrari V-6 under the hood and were priced out of reach of the target audience. One we didn't get, that was a headturner, was the Lancia Stratos HF. Think of it as a X1/9 on steroids. Both bodies were designed by Bertone.
