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Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of Pininfarina, Dies In Road Accident
Though, there has been no confirmation as of yet on the Pininfarina press release page, Autocar is reporting that Pininfarina CEO, Andrea Pininfarina, was killed this morning on his way to work in Cambiano, Italy. Pininfarina was riding his Vespa scooter when struck by a car in Turin.

Pininfarina (the company) has been responsible for such cars as Ferraris, Fiats, as well as the Euro Ford Focus. The company was started in 1930 by Battista "Pinin" Farina, Andrea's grandfather.

Andrea joined the family design firm in 1983 after receiving a mechanical engineering degree. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Our condolences to his family, friends, co-workers, and admirers.

_________________
Marty Howard
2011 NASA SE Factory Five Challenge Champion
Track Events Logistics Coordinator - TZC/THSCC
2007 Factory Five Challenge Car.
http://www.mh-motorsports.com

As I said on another thread about this, it really is a great loss to the automobile community.

There is a bit of irony in all of this though. He was riding his Vespa and crashed into a Ford Festiva. Two of the most boring designs known to the automotive world.

_________________
Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

Bummer... R.I.P.

Courtesy of jalopnik.com:

Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of Italian design and contract manufacturer Pininfarina, died Thursday morning in a road accident near Turin at the age of 51. Details are still sketchy, but the first local police reports say a car crashed into Pininfarina's motorbike in the city of Trofarello, Italy while he was riding to the company's design and R&D center in Cambiano.

UPDATE: Apparently Andrea Pininfarina was driving a Vespa and not, according to first reports, a motorcycle.

Pininfarina's death comes at a time when the family-controlled company is in the midst of a crucial restructuring. Last year, Pininfarina's consolidated net loss increased to 114.9 million euros from 21.9 million euros the previous year. Andrea Pininfarina is survived by his wife Cristiana, and two sons and a daughter. We're told the company said it will issue a statement later today. [via Automotive News (sub. req.)]


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