Head of Italian Car Design Dies

Chief executive of Pininfarina dies in accident
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 7, 2008
MILAN, Italy: Andrea Pininfarina, the chief executive of the Italian car design firm founded by his grandfather that counts Ferraris and Alfa Romeos among its creations, died Thursday in a road accident near the northern Italian city of Turin.
Pininfarina was driving a scooter along a provincial highway when he struck a car whose driver failed to stop at an intersection, Luigi Semenzato, the police chief in the town of Trofarello south of Turin, told Sky Tg24 television news.
The driver "didn't see the Vespa coming," Semenzato told Sky.
Pininfarina, 51, was the third generation to run Pininfarina SpA, founded in 1930 by his grandfather Battista "Pinin" Farina — who combined his nickname and last name to create the company's name and new family name.
Pininfarina SpA has designed cars for Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Cadillac and Volvo, among many others, but is perhaps most closely associated with Ferrari, designing nearly all of Ferrari's models since the 1950s. They include the convertibles California Spider and Daytona Spider.
Andrea Pininfarina took over as CEO in 2001, and in 2006 also became chairman of the board of directors, a position previously held by his father, Sergio Pininfarina, who is a senator for life in the Italian parliament.
Andrea Pininfarina studied mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic of Turin and started his career in the United States with Freuhauf Corp. in 1982, before returning to the family business a year later.
He was a frequent visitor to Ferrari headquarters and nurtured close relationships with the technical experts. He was also a former vice president of the Confindustria industrial lobby, and his death was felt throughout the business community.
"Italy, Turin and the entire Fiat Group have lost a symbol of entrepreneurialism, a man who carried on, and introduced innovations to, the work of his grandfather Pinin and his father Sergio," Fiat chairman and Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, a former Confindustria president, said in a statement.
Pininfarina is survived by his wife and three children, according to Italian media reports.
There was no immediate announcement of funeral arrangements.