from Autocar:
The chairman and CEO of Pininfarina, Andrea Pininfarina, 51, has been killed in a motorcycle accident near the company’s HQ in Cambiano, near Turin.
Reports from Italy suggest that a car hit Pininfarina’s Vespa scooter as he commuted to work this morning.
Pininfarina is the grandson of company founder Battista Pinin Farina and shares executive duties at Pininfarina with three other family members — his father Sergio is honorary chairman, brother Paolo is vice-chairman and sister Lorenza sits on the board.
The tragedy will hit the tight-knit Italian design community hard and comes at a crucial time in the re-structuring of loss-making Pininfarina.
New investors, including Piero Ferrari, Ratan Tata and Vincent Bollore, are due to inject £80m into Pininfarina to re-capitalise the company.
As a result, the Pininfarina family will cede control of the company for the first time since it was founded by Battista Farina in the 1930s.
Currently the family controls around 55 per cent of the company. When the cash injection is complete, that will dilute to 30 per cent.
The investors will also bring vital new business. Pininfarina wil design and build a new electric car family for the French industrialist Bollore. It will also set-up a new design centre in India for Tata.
The company is due to release its official statement on the death this afternoon.
The chairman and CEO of Pininfarina, Andrea Pininfarina, 51, has been killed in a motorcycle accident near the company’s HQ in Cambiano, near Turin.
Reports from Italy suggest that a car hit Pininfarina’s Vespa scooter as he commuted to work this morning.
Pininfarina is the grandson of company founder Battista Pinin Farina and shares executive duties at Pininfarina with three other family members — his father Sergio is honorary chairman, brother Paolo is vice-chairman and sister Lorenza sits on the board.
The tragedy will hit the tight-knit Italian design community hard and comes at a crucial time in the re-structuring of loss-making Pininfarina.
New investors, including Piero Ferrari, Ratan Tata and Vincent Bollore, are due to inject £80m into Pininfarina to re-capitalise the company.
As a result, the Pininfarina family will cede control of the company for the first time since it was founded by Battista Farina in the 1930s.
Currently the family controls around 55 per cent of the company. When the cash injection is complete, that will dilute to 30 per cent.
The investors will also bring vital new business. Pininfarina wil design and build a new electric car family for the French industrialist Bollore. It will also set-up a new design centre in India for Tata.
The company is due to release its official statement on the death this afternoon.
