Fratelli Ceirano & C was an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1901 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano and his brother Matteo Ceirano after they had left F.I.A.T. Their own automobile manufacturing business, Ceirano GB & C and its Welleyes motorcar, had been taken over by Giovanni Agnelli and his new F.I.A.T. consortium in 1899, whereupon the Welleyes was marketed as the F.I.A.T. 4HP, the first ever Fiat. The Ceiranos were not satisfied as employees and 'Italian sales agents' of F.I.A.T. so they founded Fratelli Ceirano & C in Turin, which, by July 1903 had morphed into Società Torinese Automobili Rapid (S.T.A.R.), and the cars were badged as Rapid.