Sergio Pininfarina who has been credited for designing most of the cars made by Ferrari since 1950s died at the age 85. At Ferrari people described his designs as a work of art on wheels. The design firm that his father Gian Battista founded today employs over 3,500 employs globally and played an important role in giving a positive boost to Italy’s post war image. Pininfarina, perhaps, contributed the most in developing Italy’s reputation in the field of design. Luca di Montezemolo, the President of Ferrari was generous in his praise for the man who had designed practically all the classic Ferrari models.
Sergio Designed Cars for Ferrari Since 1952
Gian Battista had started off as a carriage maker and had set up his design hose in the 1930s. He had groomed his son Sergio to take over after he retired. Sergio, who was trained as a mechanical engineer at Turin’s Polytechnic University took over as Chief Executive in 1961 and subsequently became Chairman of his firm after his father died in 1966. However, Sergio was managing all their projects with Ferrari since 1952 when Gian initiated their contact with the automaker. Since then he had designed the most expensive Ferraris. The design house had designed its first car for Alfa Romeo way back in 1933. Their most recent car design is F12 Berlinetta for Ferrari.
The Most Prominent design House from Italy
Pininfarina is arguably the best designer of cars and apart from Ferrari they have done some excellent designs for other car makers including Rolls-Royce, Volvo, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Cadillac, Austin – and a number of Daewoos. The design house however did not restrict itself to designing cars but has also designed domestic appliances, drinks dispensers and the 2006 Olympic Torch. Their other notable designs are trams in France and high-speed trains in Holland. Apart from the design world, Sergio’s death is a loss for Italy. He had a passion for his country and was one of the most important advocates of Made in Italy all over the world. It was partially due to his efforts that Italy achieved its credibility and splendor. Sergio had withdrawn from executive responsibilities since 2006. Soon after, due to the global financial crisis his design house faced a tough time but has bounced back to announce its first profit in eight years.
