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Italian car designer Sergio Pininfarina (1926-2012).
It was Sergio Pininfarina who, in 1965, persuaded Enzo Ferrari to build his
first mid-engined car, the Ferrari Dino 206 GT.
Image shows a 1973 Ferrari 246 GT "Dino".
The Volvo C70 is manufactured by Pininfarina Sverige, a joint venture
between Pininfarina and Volvo Cars. Pininfarina developed and engineered the C70 convertible.
In 2011 it was agreed that the joint venture will be terminated and Volvo Cars will take 100% ownership of Pininfarina
Sverige in 2013.
The Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet was another car developed and designed in
collaboration with Pininfarina. It was manufactured in Italy by Pininfarina S.p.A. from mid-2006 for Ford.
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Sergio Pininfarina (1926-2012)
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5th July, 2012
Sergio Pininfarina, Honorary Chairman of the Pininfarina Group, and well
known Italian car designer, passed away on 2nd July 2012 (aged 85 years) at his home in Turin, Italy. He is survived by
his wife Giorgia and sons Lorenza and Paolo.
The Board of Directors and the Company gather around the family in the undying memory of the entrepreneurial figure of
Sergio Pininfarina, who led the Company for many years with steady hand bringing the business in the world, following the
tradition of elegance and style constantly renewed with the highest standards of innovation and harmonious beauty.
Sergio Pininfarina was born in Turin on 8th September, 1926. He graduated in mechanical engineering from the
Polytechnic of Torino in 1950, then he began his career in the family firm, Carrozzeria Pinin Farina; in 1960, he
undertook the responsibility of General Manager of the firm; in 1961 he became also Managing Director and in 1966, at his
father’s (Battista) death, he took over the Chairmanship of the Company; in 2006 he became Honorary Chairman. In 1961,
the President of the Italian Republic, Giovanni Gronchi, changed by decree the name Farina in Pininfarina. In 2005 he was
appointed Life Senator for honouring the Country by high merits in the social field.
Among the most significant stages of his activity in Pininfarina: from 1955 to 1958, the planning and the construction
of new facilities at Grugliasco (Torino); the construction of the new Studies and Research Centre inaugurated in 1966; in
1972, the Wind Tunnel on 1:1 scale started its activities, the first in Italy and one of the few in the world; in 1979,
Pininfarina took the form of an holding Company; in 1982, a new company “Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche S.p.A.” was settled
at Cambiano (Torino); in 1986, a new plant in San Giorgio Canavese - near Turin - started operating; in the same year,
Pininfarina successfully entered the Italian Stock Exchange; in 1986, with the setting up the company “Pininfarina Extra
S.r.l.”, the Pininfarina Group enlarged its design activities towards all the areas of the industrial design, beyond the
traditional one of the means of transport; in 1987 a new plant in Bairo Canavese is acquired; in 1991 “Pininfarina
Deutschland GmbH” was set up; in 2002 it is inaugurated in Cambiano the new Engineering Centre; in 2003 the incorporation
of the new Company “Pininfarina Sverige AB”.
Main past positions include: From 1974 to 1977 he has been professor of “Car Body Design” at the Polytechnic of
Torino. President of the Industrial Association of Torino (1978-1984); Member of the European Parliament (1979-1988);
President of the Federation of Industrial Associations of Piedmont (1983-1988); President of International Organisation
of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (1987-1989); President of Confindustria (1988-1992); Board Member of AUME (Association for
the Monetary Union of Europe, 1989-1997); Vice President of UNICE (Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of
Europe, 1990-1994); President of Comitato Leonardo - Italian Quality Committee (1993-1996); Co-President of “Comitato per
la Direttrice Ferroviaria Europea Transpadana” (1991-2001); President of Banca CRT (2001-2002); Chief of the Italian
delegation in the Intergovernmental Italian-French Commission for the new high-speed railway link between Lyon and Turin
(2001-2005); Chairman FIDIA S.p.A. (1996-2006); Co-President Italy-Japan Business Group (2004-2007); Chairman Editrice La
Stampa S.p.A. (2004-2008); Member of the Board of Directors of Ferrari S.p.A. (1969-2011).
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