Pininfarina

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Pininfarina SpA

logo
legal form società per azioni
founding 1930
Seat Cambiano , Italy
management Paolo Pininfarina
Branch Automotive industry
Website www.pininfarina.it

The Pininfarina SpA is an Italian design studio and Coachbuilder .

history

Ferraris in the Pininfarina Museum in Turin, in the middle of the Pininfarina Modulo

The company was founded in 1930 as Carrozzeria Pinin Farina by Battista "Pinin" Farina (1893–1966). Battista Farina had worked for the Turin-based bodywork manufacturer Stabilimenti Farina , which his older brother Giovanni had founded in 1906 , since the First World War . In 1930 Battista Farina left the economically successful company and founded the rival company Pinin Farina. Its first chief designer was Felice Mario Boano , who had previously held this position at Stabilimenti Farina.

Pininfarina's designers have created numerous Alfa Romeo , Ferrari , Fiat , Jaguar , Lancia , Maserati and Peugeot vehicles . After Battista's death, his son Sergio (1926–2012) and his grandson Andrea (1957–2008) continued the company. The company is currently run by Andreas' brother Paolo . In December 2015, Mahindra acquired the majority in Pininfarina.

With the design of the unique Florida based on the Lancia Aurelia in 1955, Pininfarina laid the foundation for half a century of automobile sedan design in Europe and the USA . This also included model series from the British Motor Corporation ( Austin A55 Cambridge Mk II , MG Magnette Mk III , Morris Oxford V , Riley 4/68 , Wolseley 15/60 ), the Peugeots 404 , 504 Coupé / Cabriolet and 505 as well as the Fiat series 1800 , 2100 and 2300 .

Many one-offs based on Lancia and Ferrari models were the attractions at international automobile shows and cemented the designer's worldwide fame. Pininfarina also had a special relationship with Cadillac . For this brand, the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham from 1958 to 1960 and the Cadillac Allanté from 1988 to 1993 were also manufactured in their own production facility.

Today, Pininfarina sees itself as a design and engineering service provider for the entire automotive industry. In addition to the design of vehicles and the derivation of body variants such as convertibles , station wagons or coupés, Pininfarina offers support in preparing the body production and produces small and medium-sized series.

After the Renault group left Matra , Pininfarina acquired the development department in 2004, which was sold to Segula Technologies in 2009 .

In December 2015 it became known that Pininfarina had been looking for a financially strong partner for many years and at that time had found it with the Indian conglomerate Mahindra . Mahindra acquired 76 percent of the company shares for 25.2 million euros; Mahindra plans to buy the remaining 24 percent for a further eight million euros in the future.

design

Pininfarina design: Ferrari 308 GTB
Pininfarina design: Vinfast Lux A 2.0

Battista and Sergio Pininfarina designed only a few vehicles entirely themselves. They regularly employed young designers who - sometimes in internal competition with one another - designed details and entire body designs for Pininfarina. In the 1950s, they included Francesco Salomone , Franco Martinengo and Franco Scaglione , later Aldo Brovarone , Tom Tjaarda , Leonardo Fioravanti , Emanuele Nicosia , Paolo Martin and Lowie Vermeesch . Many of them set up their own studios after their time at Pininfarina.

Numerous vehicles designed or modified by Pininfarina are currently in production. Including sports cars from Ferrari , luxury sedans from Maserati , but also many normal mid-range vehicles such as the Chinese Brilliance BS6 , or minivans such as the Hyundai Matrix .

Pininfarina has also made a name for itself outside of the automotive industry. In the rail vehicle design, the SBB Re 460 locomotive , the SBB RABDe 500 InterCity tilting train and the Italian high-speed train ETR 500 were designed. The Athens tram trains that have been in use since 2004 and the Cobra Tram, which runs in Zurich, were also designed by Pininfarina. In 2006, Pininfarina designed the eSolex electric small motorcycle and a computer case for Spire Design.

The futuristic control tower of the new Istanbul Airport was designed by Pininfarina in cooperation with Aecom.

production

Pininfarina also produces vehicles in small and medium-sized series in its own factory, for example the Fiat 124 Spider (which was temporarily offered under the Pininfarina brand as Spidereuropa ), various convertibles for Peugeot or the Mitsubishi Pajero Pinin. Since 2007, the Pininfarina plant in Turin has been assembling the first Ford convertible with a folding hardtop , the Ford Focus Coupe-Cabriolet. Pininfarina produces the roof module for various vehicles .

Pininfarina Volumex (1985)
Cockpit of the Pininfarina Volumex (1985)
Pininfarina Battista (2019)

The company also produced the Volumex , an elegant sports convertible, on its own . Only 500 copies were built worldwide in the 1980s. The Volumex was equipped with a supercharged engine that developed 135 hp with a displacement of two liters.

Projects

Mountain bikes manufactured by the Hong Kong company Senan were also marketed under the name Pininfarina

Current production of roof modules

  • Alfa Romeo Spider
  • Mitsubishi Colt CZC

literature

  • Etienne Cornil: Ferrari by Pininfarina, The Complete Story. Heel, Königswinter 2002, ISBN 3-89365-833-5 .
  • Antoine Prune: Pininfarina. Art and industry from 1930 to today. Heel, Königswinter 2002, ISBN 3-89365-896-3 .
  • Carrozzeria Pininfarina: Pininfarina SESSANT'ANNI . Pininfarina, 1990.

Individual evidence

  1. sz.de of December 16, 2015, 07:55 a.m. Takeover by Mahindra Pininfarina will soon design commercial vehicles instead of Ferraris , accessed on February 2, 2016
  2. spiegel.de: New Istanbul Airport: A tulip as a control tower

Web links

Commons : Pininfarina  - collection of images, videos and audio files