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Pininfarina

Coachbuilder and design house founded in Turin in 1930 by Battista «Pinin» Farina, the signature behind the Cisitalia 202 and decades of Ferrari models; today it is headquartered in Cambiano.

Image from Pininfarina's publication
From the Pininfarina publication

Pininfarina is the coachbuilder and design house founded in Turin on 22 May 1930 by Battista «Pinin» Farina. Created to build special bodywork for individual clients and small production runs, it became one of the names that define Italian automotive style worldwide: it has clothed Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Cisitalia and, for decades, Ferrari, and today it is a design and engineering services group headquartered in Cambiano, controlled by India's Mahindra.[1][2]

The «smallest of the brood»

Giovanni Battista Farina was born in Turin on 2 November 1893, the tenth of eleven children in a family originally from Cortanze d'Asti. Being the youngest of the boys, he was called «Pinin» within the family, a word that in Piedmontese means the smallest of the brood, and the nickname went on to become a brand name.[1] At twelve he joined the workshop of his brother Giovanni, the Stabilimenti Farina, which in 1910 built the bodywork for FIAT's Zero model and in the 1920s experimented with stamping and all-metal bodywork, reaching about 1,800 units a year.[1]

Corso Trapani, 1930

On 22 May 1930, before the notary Annibale Germano, Pinin founded S.A. Carrozzeria Pinin Farina with a capital of one million lire, taking on the roles of managing director and general manager. Among the earliest backers was Vincenzo Lancia, who took a stake in the company and commissioned the bodywork for fifty Dilambdas.[1] The Corso Trapani plant, according to the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, measured nearly 10,000 m² and employed 90 workers; the company's own timeline gives 9,250 m² and 150 employees.[1][2]

In the 1930s research focused on aerodynamics: the Alfa Romeo 6C Pescara Coupé appeared at the 1935 Milan Motor Show, followed in 1936 by the Lancia Astura Cabriolet «tipo Bocca». After the war, production resumed with the Lancia Aprilia Bilux.[2]

The Cisitalia and Ferrari

In 1947 the coachbuilder reached one of its high points with the Cisitalia 202 berlinetta, which the Dizionario Biografico regards as the culmination of the 1930s aerodynamic research.[1] It was the first car to be permanently exhibited in a museum of modern art, New York's MoMA, among eight outstanding cars of its time.[2] In October of the same year, at the Paris Motor Show, Pinin displayed a car that united engineering and form, a «sculpture in motion» as Arthur Drexler called it in the exhibition catalogue.[3]

In May 1951 his son Sergio, who had just graduated from the Politecnico di Torino, was given the task of handling relations with Enzo Ferrari; the company's timeline dates the Ferrari 212 to that year, and from 1952 the collaboration became exclusive.[3][2][1] Many in the industry bet that two such strong personalities would eventually break apart; instead the partnership lasted for decades, and the company's timeline marks its milestones with the 250 GT of 1954, the short-wheelbase 250 GT of 1959 and the 456 GT of the early 1990s.[2]

The same years saw the arrival of large-production models: about 27,000 units of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, presented in 1954, were built up to 1965.[1] For Lancia, at the 1955 Turin Motor Show, Pinin presented the one-off Florida, from which the Flaminia descended; the Florida II was his personal car until his death.[4]

«It brings to mind that Detroit manufacturer, Olds, who lived and slept in his car. And I live in my Florida»

Battista Pinin Farina, on his Lancia Florida

Grugliasco and the new surname

In June 1958 the whole operation left Corso Trapani for Grugliasco, on the edge of the city, moving into a 36,500 m² plant divided into five sections.[1] In 1961 Pinin handed over leadership to his son Sergio and his son-in-law Renzo Carli, as managing directors.[2][3] On 6 June of that same year a decree by President of the Republic Giovanni Gronchi officially changed the surname Farina to Pininfarina, formalizing a usage that was already well established.[1]

On 7 March 1966 the Grugliasco Research and Studies Centre was inaugurated;[3] the founder, suffering from an incurable illness, died in Lausanne on 3 April 1966.[1] That same year saw the launch of the Alfa Romeo 1600 Spider «Duetto», of which about 140,000 units were produced up to 1993, and in the 1970s the Fiat 124 Sport Spider passed 200,000 units.[2]

The era of Sergio Pininfarina

Sergio Pininfarina, born in Turin on 8 September 1926 and a graduate of the Politecnico in 1950, was chairman from 1966.[3] Under his leadership, in November 1972, the full-scale wind tunnel came into operation, the first of its kind in Italy and one of the first seven in the world.[3] This was followed by the Cambiano research company, in the metropolitan city of Turin, established in 1982, and in 1986 by the listing on the Milan Stock Exchange and the creation of Pininfarina Extra for non-automotive design.[3] That same year, 1986, a new plant was opened at San Giorgio Canavese, in the Canavese; around the same period Pininfarina's style spread to foreign brands, from the Cadillac Allanté of 1986 to the Bentley Azure and the Peugeot 406 Coupé of the 1990s.[2]

Sergio also held a prominent public role: chairman of the Unione Industriale di Torino from 1978, member of the European Parliament for the Liberal Party from 1979, and president of Confindustria from 1988 to 1992.[3] On taking office at Confindustria he said: «Preparing for Europe will be one of the most important goals of my presidency».[3] He later became chairman of the CRT bank and, in 2005, a senator for life.[5]

Crisis, bereavement and the arrival of Mahindra

In 2006 the chairmanship passed to Sergio's son, Andrea Pininfarina, who died in a road accident on 7 August 2008; he was succeeded by his brother Paolo.[2][3] Sergio died in Turin in July 2012.[3] In the meantime the company had built up heavy debts, and in the preceding eleven years it had rarely closed its books in profit.[6]

On 14 December 2015 the agreement was announced with the Indian group Mahindra & Mahindra, which had already worked with Pininfarina on the design of some SUVs: the purchase of 76% of the shares at 1.1 euros each, with a subsequent public offer for the rest of the capital. Paolo Pininfarina remained chairman.[6]

Today

The group, listed on the stock exchange and part of the Mahindra galaxy since 2016, is headquartered in Cambiano, employs about 500 people across Italy, Germany, China and the United States, and claims more than 1,950 projects: cars, but also architecture, mobility, product design and aerodynamics.[7] Automobili Pininfarina, maker of the Battista electric hypercar, is also based in Cambiano.[8] In Cambiano, the Pininfarina Collection can be visited by appointment, displaying cars such as the Cisitalia, the Giulietta Spider and the Sigma Grand Prix single-seater.[9]

The delisting tender offer launched by Pininfarina Holdings (September 2026)

In September 2026 Pininfarina Holdings, which already holds 78.8% of Pininfarina, launched a voluntary total tender offer for the company's ordinary shares listed on Euronext Milan, for up to 16,660,587 shares (21.177% of the share capital), with the aim of delisting the company. The consideration offered is 1 euro in cash per share, a 20% premium over the official closing price on 15 September 2026.

Timeline

  • — Mahindra launched a voluntary tender offer to delist Pininfarina from Piazza Affari, ahead of new capital for the company. → ANSA Piemonte La Stampa

Related articles: Battista Pininfarina, Grugliasco, Lancia, Mahindra, Pininfarina Holdings Tender Offer for Pininfarina (2026)

Pages linking here

Sources

  1. Treccani – Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani — 1 January 1994
  2. Pininfarina
  3. Treccani – Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani — 1 January 2015
  4. Stellantis Heritage
  5. Treccani – Enciclopedia
  6. Il Post — 14 December 2015
  7. Pininfarina
  8. Automobili Pininfarina
  9. Pininfarina
  10. ANSA Piemonte — 16 September 2026

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