Paolo Pininfarina, Chairman of Pininfarina SPA, Passes Away Aged 65

Paolo Pininfarina, Chairman of the acclaimed design house Pininfarina SPA, passed away aged 65. Paolo Pininfarina was the son and grandson of legendary car designers Sergio and Battista Pininfarina and had been at the helm of his family’s design house since 2008. 

Paolo Pininfarina was also the President and CEO of Pininfarina Extra S.r.l, a division of Pininfarina SPA that looked after industrial, aeronautical, nautical, architectural and furniture design. He headed more than 600 projects during his 30-year tenure that began in 1987. 

The cause of death of Paolo Pininfarina was not revealed but Pininfarina posted on X (formerly Twitter) that in his last moments, he was surrounded by his wife Ilaria, his children Greta, Giovanni, Iole, Tullio, and Giulia, his mother Giorgia Gianolio. 

Paolo Pininfarina was born on August 28, 1958, and graduated from the Turin Polytechnic in 1982. He then joined Pininfarina SPA and subsequently handled projects at General Motors and Honda. He became the Chairman of the design house in 2008, succeeding his brother Andrea Pininfarina. Paolo Pininfarina was also an integral part of setting up Automobili Pininfarina in 2018, the company responsible for producing the Battista electric hypercar. 

Under his leadership, Pininfarina SPA designed multiple iconic vehicles such as the above-mentioned Battista. This electric hypercar is named after his grandfather and is the first model developed completely by Pininfarina, under the firm Automobili Pininfarina. The design house also made a concept car to pay tribute to Sergio Pininfarina. The concept car, called Pininfarina Sergio, was based on the Ferrari 458 Spider and the Italian supercar marque built six units which were sold to handpicked customers.

Maserati, which had many models designed by Pininfarina SPA, showed gratitude towards Paolo Pininfarina and posted on X, “We shared a story of design and innovation. Our dearest goodbyes to Paolo Pininfarina, thanks a lot for the long road we made together.”