Pininfarina CEO killed in motorcycle accident

Posted Thu Aug 7 2008 7:59 AM by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

The CEO of Pininfarina, Andrea Pininfarina, was killed early this morning after the motorbike he was riding on collided with a car near the company’s Cambiano design center in Turin, Italy. While details are still scarce, preliminary local police reports claim the car crashed into Pininfarina's motorbike at 8.15am local time.

Andrea Pininfarina was the grandson of the design studio’s original founder, Battista Farina, and son to the chairman of the company, Sergio Pininfarina (who was inducted into the European Automotive Hall of Fame earlier this year).

His death comes at a crucial time for the legendary design house. Last year the firm recorded a consolidated net loss of €114.9 million ($177.5 million), up from €21.9 million ($33.8 million) the previous year, reports Automotive News.

In 1981 Pininfarina graduated from Polytechnic of Turin as a mechanical engineer and in 1982 was employed by Freuehauf Corp. in the U.S. He only started at the Pininfarina design house in 1983, where his first job was program manager for the Cadillac Allanté project. In 1987 he was promoted to general manager, before becoming managing director in 1994 and CEO in 2001.

Andrea Pininfarina was aged 51 and is survived by his wife Cristiana, and two sons and a daughter.

Reader Comments

Thu Aug 7 2008 10:29 AM
Gus says

Man, that is sad.
I've been riding motorcycles for almost 30 years now, and while I have never crashed once on the street, I finally sold my last one a few weeks ago.
I found that at my age (38) my reactions were not what they were when I was in my 20's.
To ride on the street, you have to be on high alert at all times, judging every possible scenario, and while I could still do that, I didn't have enough "computing power" left over to enjoy myself.
So, I'll stick with the fast convertible...
Thu Aug 7 2008 11:56 AM
bambam says

It's sad to lose someone great in the industry.
I'm no motorcycle fan but I am a Pininfarina fan
Should of got a Tango ev car, the stats are good enough
to replace a motorcycles.
Thu Aug 7 2008 10:20 PM
CarFanaticsUnleashed says

My heartfelt condolences to his family and co-workers,
what an awesome opportunity to have been able to work for him
it must have been for them. This is a tragic loss for the car design
and supercar industry. A great designer has passed on to the
race track in the sky...
Fri Aug 8 2008 7:23 AM
Quang-Anh Nguyen says

SO Sad, The greatest Designer has gone.

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