Andrea Pininfarina, the chairman and chief executive of the Italian company founded by his family that designs Ferraris and other cars, died on Thursday when a car struck his Vespa scooter. He was 51.
Mr. Pininfarina died instantly in the accident in Trofarello, 7 miles south of the northwestern city of Turin and close to Mr. Pininfarina’s headquarters, police said. The 78-year-old driver of the car that hit Mr. Pininfarina failed to give him the right of way, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Mr. Pininfarina was part of a family dynasty that began its move into industry in 1930 when his grandfather, Battista Pinin Farina, founded the company, which in its first year designed cars for Alfa Romeo, Fiat and other Italian manufacturers. Mr. Pininfarina’s father, Sergio Pininfarina, is the company’s honorary chairman. His younger brother, Paolo, is the Pininfarina company’s vice chairman. His older sister, Lorenza, is on the board.
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“Our country has lost a leading personality of its industrial life and the representative of a dynasty that has contributed to creating the Made in Italy brand in the world,” Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.
Andrea Pininfarina was born in Turin. After graduating in 1981 with a degree in mechanical engineering from Turin’s Polytechnic University, Mr. Pininfarina went to work in the United States. He joined the family company upon his return to Italy a few years later and became the chief executive of its German unit in 1991. He became chief executive of the company as a whole in 2001 and chairman in 2006.
Under Mr. Pininfarina, the company diversified, balancing flashy projects like the Ferrari Enzo with less exciting car designs for Hyundai, Daewoo and Ford.