Paolo Pininfarina’s life was dedicated to work, he passed away on 9 April 2024 at the age of 65. A human and professional path that has never betrayed the values and tradition of the family business, constantly projecting its work towards the achievement of new objectives in the name of innovation. Challenges always faced in a discreet way without the search for media hype with that Savoy grace and education that has always distinguished him. Born in Turin on 28 August 1958, after graduating in Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic, he began his professional journey in Pininfarina in 1982, with an eye from the beginning on the new opportunities of a very rapidly evolving world, destined in a short time to change the fate of the historic company founded by his grandfather.
the beginnings of his career
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After a training period between Japan and the United States, first as quality and reliability manager in the Allante program in Cadillac, and then as manager in the GM 200 Engineering program in General Motors, in 1987 he assumed the role of President and CEO of Pininfarina Extra Srl, a Pininfarina group company specializing in industrial design, furniture, architecture, nautical and aeronautics. During its leadership, Pininfarina Extra has developed hundreds of projects, many of which have won the most prestigious design awards and becoming a reference figure on the national and international scene precisely for its constant commitment to innovation and excellence in the most disparate sectors. From the first successful partnerships, such as the one with Snaidero for the international launch of the Ola kitchen, “the engineer” – as journalists and collaborators were used to calling him – started collaborations with leading companies such as Alenia Aermacchi, Bovet, Calligaris, Chivas Regal, Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, Lavazza, Motorola, Samsung and Unilever. The breaks from work were all for her, the team of her heart, Juventus with which Pininfarina fulfilled the dream of one of the most coveted projects, of which she would be proud for the rest of her life, creating the interiors of the new stadium.
attitude to innovation
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“There was a slogan in the Seventies that said: Pininfarina, the tradition of the new” recalled Paolo Pininfarina to the microphones of Gazzetta Motori, to explain how the principle of innovation had immediately guided the history of the company. “In the end, Pininfarina’s true identity lies in innovation and in the fact that it has always taken the risk of change”. A desire to imagine the future and anticipate it began with the first Cisitalia 202 in 1947, exhibited at the Moma in New York. “The car was moving towards lightness and simplicity, and that was an innovation thought up by the founder in those years that would write history, with car architecture solutions such as the horizontal development of the radiator, the bonnet lower than the fenders, the line of the pavilion: it was a functional project that prefigured the Italian Granturismo car, a beautiful example of an innovative project. The past reminds us of who we are and must be respected, but the future is more important than the past for a company that does research and design”, repeated Pininfarina, taking advantage of the values of a name that has become a symbol of Italian excellence in the world to transmit it to new generations, with a new language and stimuli. And from this perspective, with great dedication, he contributed to the world of historic motoring as vice president of the ASI, Italian Historic Automotoclub, until 2023.
pininfarina in America
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“Design is the instrument to humanize innovation” we read upon entering the Pininfarina of America offices in Miami. A teaching that remains immortal today in the work and great dedication to the work of Paolo Pininfarina. In addition to the Turin headquarters in Cambiano, Paolo Pininfarina strongly supported and followed the opening of Pininfarina Extra USA in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2006, from which the current Pininfarina of America would later derive, which today serves the American markets from the headquarters in Miami and New York. At the beginning of 2019, the merger process of Pininfarina Extra was started, incorporated into the parent company Pininfarina Spa, in which starting from 2002 Paolo took on the role of Quality System Management Manager, contributing to the achievement of the Isots/16949 certification in July 2003. In 2006 he was appointed vice president of Pininfarina Spa and in 2008, after the sudden death of his brother Andrea, who was president and CEO at the time, he assumed the position of President, launching two of the “new course” cars dearest to him: the concept Sergio two-seater barchetta car, created in 2013 in memory of his father, and the Automobili Pininfarina Battista electric hypercar, which bears the name of his grandfather and which he himself unveiled at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. In the name of the family tradition, the sharing with Flavio Manzoni the design of the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, “an expression of the collaboration and understanding between such a prestigious historical brand and the Ferrari Style Center, which under my direction was being born in Maranello” – writes Flavio Manzoni.
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the honors
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Appointed in 2020 by the City of Turin as Ambassador of local excellence, Paolo Pininfarina has always combined his corporate activities with a great commitment in the field of education and promotion of Italian design, contributing to the birth of the Adi Foundation for Italian Design and participating in the Committee Scientific expert at the European Institute of Design in Turin. The “new mobility” has always been one of the key points of his research commitment, from a business perspective always projected towards the largest markets: a vision that brought him the recognition of “Italian personality of the year” from France in June 2011 for his contribution to the success of the Autolib electric car sharing program for the Municipality of Paris.
