Pininfarina

Rédaction : Albert Lallement

Haute couture bodywork

One of the main symbols of Italian design, Pininfarina is recognised as a major player in the history of the global car industry, having succeeded in transforming the company from an artisanal to an industrial concern.

Pininfarina has been the preferred designer for Ferrari since 1952, as well as for many other manufacturers such as Peugeot, and has always been keen to create bodywork for sweeping sports cars at a relatively affordable price. Founder Gian-Battista Pinin Farina liked to say of his work: ‘Our style is synonymous with sense of proportion, simplicity and harmony in design, so that after a very long time it remains more than a mere memory of beauty.

Despite semi-industrial production, the models designed by Pinin Farina are presented as luxury vehicles, like this Lancia Aurelia coupé from 1953. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Lancia D.R.

At the creation of Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930, Gian-Battista's first ambition was to build bespoke bodywork for wealthy customers, as did most of his competitors at the time. However, his most cherished project was already to build small series rather than single vehicles. He believed that a perfect car had to be produced in quantity to recoup the costs of a prototype. His motto was ‘a unique car for multiple customers’... And indeed, Pininfarina was an undisputed frontrunner among Italian and European coachbuilders when it stopped being a fashion house and decided to produce cars on an industrial scale, thanks in particular to partnerships with major manufacturers.

The 1987 Ferrari F40 is one of Pininfarina's most dazzling designs and an illustration of his long and rich collaboration with Maranello. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Archives & Collections / D.R.

CORNERSTONE OF ITALIAN COACHBUILDING

The Pininfarina saga began long before the creation of the design company with the ‘Stabilimenti Industriali Giovanni Farina’ founded in 1906 in Turin. Together with his brother Gian-Battista, Giovanni produced bodywork for manufacturers such as De Dion-Bouton, Lancia and Peugeot. Many future design legends were trained here, including Felice Boano, Alfredo Vignale and Pietro Frua. It was on 22 May 1930 that Gian-Battista Pinin Farina joined forces with Giovanni Battista Devalle, Gaspare Bona Pietro Monateri, Arrigo De Angeli and Vincenzo Lancia to establish the ‘Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina’ at 107 Corso Trapani in Turin.

Before the war, the company's activity was mainly focused on the design and manufacturing of components for Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Hispano Suiza and even Rolls-Royce. Although Gian-Battista was an autodidact, he had the intuition that the curved bodywork he loved so much had an influence on the aerodynamics of cars. The Aerodynamica coupé, developed from 1936 onwards on a Lancia Aprilia chassis, was a perfect illustration of this principle. This particular style was adopted for most of the bodywork designed by Pinin Farina before the war. Some of the most striking examples include the Lancia Astura cabriolet and the Fiat 2800 of 1938, and the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS sports cabriolet of 1939.

The famous ‘F’ for Farina, the original name of the founder, still adorns the bodywork of cars designed by Pininfarina. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Archives & Collections / D.R.

THE POST-WAR BOOM

The war put a temporary halt to the company's business, as it was cut off at the peak of its growth. Its Turin premises were requisitioned for the war effort and then destroyed. In 1946, Pinin Farina resumed its industrial route, forming partnerships with manufacturers such as Nash, Dodge and General Motors in the United States. In Europe, his most notable collaborations included Peugeot, with the 403 in 1955, and above all Ferrari, a relationship that continues until this day.

Sergio Pininfarina even succeeded in gradually expanding into small series production, notably with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, of which 4,000 units were built in 1959. To expand its business, a new factory was built at Grugliasco on the outskirts of Turin in 1957, followed by San Giorgio Canavese in 1986, where the Peugeot 406 coupé was built. Pininfarina's growth was so substantial that in 1986 the company was listed on the Milan stock exchange. The company continued to grow, thanks to a partnership with Mitsubishi in 1999 and the takeover of Matra Automobile Engineering in 2003. By the end of 2015, a number of economic setbacks resulted in the takeover of Pininfarina Spa by Indian carmaker Mahindra.

Despite semi-industrial production, the models designed by Pinin Farina were presented as luxury vehicles, like this 1953 Lancia Aurelia coupé. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Archives & Collections /D.R.

From 1972, Pininfarina was one of the few designers to have a 1/1 scale aerodynamic wind tunnel at its disposal. Here, a study of the 1984 Ferrari Testarossa. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Archives & Collections /D.R.

The founder

Since its creation by Gian-Battista Pinin Farina in 1930, Pininfarina has been passed down from father to son for three generations. The latter's name was Farina, but he added ‘Pinin’ as a tribute to his father Giuseppe, of whom ‘Pinin’ is the diminutive in Piedmontese. Official authorisation to use the Pininfarina surname was given by the President of the Italian Republic in 1961. Born on 02 November 1883 in Turin, Gian-Battista came from a family of Piedmont farmers. At the age of 11, he started working as an apprentice in the garage of his older brother Giovanni, who was none other than the father of the future Formula 1 World Champion of 1950, Giuseppe Farina.

His brother's establishment was regularly frequented by a number of prominent figures in the car industry, including Giovanni Agnelli, head of Fiat, and Vincenzo Lancia, creator of the eponymous brand. The latter was associated with Pinin Farina's early career. The business was taken over in 1961 by his only son, Sergio (1926-2012), who turned it into an industrial business on a permanent basis. In 2006, Sergio Pininfarina handed over the management of the company to his son Andrea (1957-2008), who died in a road accident two years later. His brother Paolo (1958-2024) succeeded him as the head of the family business.

ENZO'S LAST...

Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the launch of its first 125 S model on 21 July 1987, Ferrari presented the F40 which, in the words of Commendatore Enzo Ferrari, was the rightful heir to the glorious 250 GTO and 250 LM ‘Grand Touring’ cars produced at Maranello in the 1960s. This anniversary car is not only a showcase for Ferrari's expertise, it is also a resolutely future-oriented achievement for the brand with the prancing horse.

With its very low nose and voluminous rear spoiler, the F40's breathtaking lines are one of Pininfarina's finest creations. The F40 is an evolution of the 288 GTO of 1984, also designed by Pininfarina, and of the intermediate ‘Evoluzione’ version, from which it takes the V8 engine, with a displacement increased from 2,855 to 2,936 cm3 and now developing 478 bhp at 7,000 rpm. Only 1,311 units of this exceptional car were built in the Scaglietti workshops between 1988 and 1991.