MILAN — Andrea Pininfarina, the chairman and chief executive of the Italian company founded by his family that designs Ferraris and other cars, died on Thursday when a car struck his Vespa scooter. He was 51.
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Andrea Pininfarina, head of the Pininfarina design house.
Mr. Pininfarina died instantly in the accident in the town of Trofarello, which is seven miles south of the northwestern city of Turin and close to Pininfarina’s headquarters, a police spokesman said. The 78-year-old driver of the car that hit Mr. Pininfarina had failed to give him the right of way, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
Mr. Pininfarina was part of a family dynasty that began its move into industry in 1930 when his grandfather, Battista Pinin Farina, founded the company, which in its first year designed cars for Alfa Romeo, Fiat and other Italian manufacturers. Mr. Pininfarina’s father, Sergio Pininfarina, is the company’s honorary chairman and one of Italy’s seven senators for life. His younger brother, Paolo, is Pininfarina’s vice chairman. His older sister, Lorenza, is on the board.
“Our country has lost a leading personality of its industrial life and the representative of a dynasty that has contributed to creating the Made in Italy brand in the world,” Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a statement.
Andrea Pininfarina was born on June 26, 1957, in Turin, the heart of Italy’s auto design industry. After graduating in 1981 with a degree in mechanical engineering from Turin’s Polytechnic University, Mr. Pininfarina went to work in the United States. He joined the family company upon his return to Italy a few years later and became the chief executive of its German unit in 1991. He became chief executive of the company as a whole in 2001 and chairman in 2006.
Under Mr. Pininfarina, the company diversified its portfolio, balancing flashy projects like the Ferrari Enzo supercar with less exciting car designs for Hyundai, Daewoo and Ford.
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the chairman of Fiat and its Ferrari unit, said in a statement: “Italy, Turin and the whole Fiat Group have lost a stellar businessman. I shared with him years of work and the success of the Ferraris he designed.”
Mr. Pininfarina was deputy chairman of Confindustria, the powerful employers lobby, when Mr. Montezemolo was chairman.
Mr. Pininfarina’s death comes at a pivotal time for his company, which lost 115 million euros ($176 million) last year and is struggling to regain its footing. Trying to rebound from four years of losses, Pininfarina said last week that it would sell 100 million euros in new shares to raise fresh capital, though another loss is projected for this year.
The share sale will bring the family holding to 30 percent from 55 percent and will be the first time the Pininfarinas have ceded majority control of the company. The new capital will be used to design an electric car that Pininfarina is developing with Vincent Bollore, the French financier.
Mr. Pininfarina’s death raised speculation that the family could sell the company. Its shares surged 21 percent on Thursday.
Pininfarina is working on five cars, including ones for Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Ford and Mitsubishi. The company has branched out in recent years and has designed many products including lamps, pens, water bottles, coffee pots, mobile phones and the Olympic torch used in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
In addition to his father, brother and sister, Mr. Pininfarina is survived by his wife, Cristina Pellion di Persano, and three children, Benedetta, Sergio and Luca.
www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/busin ... arina.html
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