From some of history’s most beautiful supercars to the humble saucepan, Pininfarina designs is renowned for penning some of the most impressive products on the planet.
For more than 90 years, the iconic Italian design house has been synonymous with style, enjoying a special relationship with Ferrari for more than 60 of those years.
In this first instalment in our Eye of the Beholder series, we’re embarking on an in-depth exploration of the famous design house’s rich history and lasting legacy.
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What is Pininfarina and where is it located?
Pininfarina is an illustrious Italian design firm established in northern Italy in 1930, with its headquarters in the municipality of Cambiano, Turin.
The design house is best known for its elegant car designs, both in the higher and lower ends of the market. While the designer has styled cars for brands from BMW to Peugeot, Pininfarina is best known for its long-running relationship with Ferrari, having designed countless motoring icons for the marque over more than six decades.
Today, Pininfarina designs its own cars. One of the most attention-grabbing is the limited-edition and frankly sensational Battista Edizione Nino Farina hypercar, which was recently unveiled at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
How to pronounce Pininfarina
Whether you are discussing the best looking Ferraris with friends or chatting with fellow enthusiasts on our Taste of Tuscany tour, pronouncing such a stylish name correctly will only serve to enhance your credibility. Luckily, Pininfarina is very easy to get right when you break it down as follows: pin·in·fa·ree·na.
What are some of Pininfarina’s design hallmarks?
Just like emotions, it’s difficult to summarise the mastery of Pininfarina. Yet there are some design hallmarks that classic Pininfarina-penned items share.
The design house is perhaps best known for its purity of lines, which are fluid and elegant. According to Pininfarina’s Head of Design, Luca Borgogno, ‘…when you’re sketching a car, you should be able to define the character of the car itself by just one or two lines.’
From one-off concepts to mass-produced models, unobscured beauty is imperative to Pininfarina. As founder Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina once said, ‘Above all, it should be beautiful.’ Yet functionality is just as important and Pininfarina cars – not to mention its yachts, jets and trains – are built to be as functional as they are beautifully formed.
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The best Pininfarina car designs: Ferrari and other brands
‘Spoiled for choice’ is a phrase that comes to mind when discussing the best pininfarina designs, as Italy’s most famous design house has consistently produced spectacular cars for nearly a century.
With so much choice, settling on a definitive top ten is impossible. However, here are ten favourites of the UDT team, in no particular order.
Lancia Aurelia B24S
Oozing 1950’s charm, the Aurelia B52S is one of Pininfarina’s most famous designs. The body is sophisticated and sporty with magnificent detailing – the rear lamps were supposedly designed to be as small as possible to resemble ‘the moles of a beautiful lady’. The convertible B24S soon became a superstar after featuring in the famous 1962 Italian road-trip comedy Il Sorpasso.
Cisitalia 202
Any automobile on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art is certainly worth the attention, and the 1947 Cisitalia 202 was the first car to achieve this accolade in 1951. With such cohesive form, elegance and innovation, the 202 was poetically described by the then museum director Arthur Drexler as ‘a sculpture in motion.’ We are inclined to agree.
Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta Lusso
Effortlessly elegant with a touch of aggression, the 250GT Berlinetta Lusso is widely regarded as one of Pininfarina’s most beautiful designs. Unveiled in 1962, it straddled both luxury coupe and competition racer – the public instantly fell in love with it, and its mystique and prestige have only grown since then.
Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona
Best known by its unofficial name ‘Daytona’ (due to the Prancing Horse’s racing success at the time of launch in 1968), the 365GTB/4 is another iconic Ferrari designed by Pininfarina. The Daytona demonstrated a suave and masculine style, with a long aggressive nose, fine creases, and circular rear lights that would become a signature look for Ferrari. Menacing but gentlemanly, it’s certainly memorable.
Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto
Introduced to the public just a month before the death of its original founder, the Spider Duetto is the final car attributed to the genius designer. The Spider remained in production in multiple iterations for 27 years, although the Series 1 cars from 1966 to 1969 are considered the most elegant. Film buffs will remember the Spider Duetto driven by Dustin Hoffman in 1967’s The Graduate.
Ferrari F40
While far from the prettiest on this list, the F40 is often regarded as the greatest Ferrari road car ever created – and naturally, it was designed by Pininfarina. With a dramatic yet minimalist body built mainly from composites, the F40 was produced to celebrate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary. It remains as desirable as the marque approaches its 80th.
Ferrari Testarossa
The Testarossa is a Pininfarina-designed Ferrari that may not be as flowing as others on this list, it’s undoubtedly one of the most recognisable – often seen as the quintessential ‘80s supercar design. With distinctive ‘cheese grater’ doors that fed air to the monster engine and menacing black rear slats partially concealing the tail lights, this cutting-edge design pushed the manufacturing process to the limit.
Ferrari Enzo
With just 400 built between 2002 and 2004, the Enzo certainly favoured aerodynamics and performance over purity of lines and the classic elegance one would expect from a Pininfarina-designed Ferrari. It understandably has its critics, yet the Enzo was all about pushing the envelope and remains one of the most talked about designs in recent history.
Maserati GranTurismo
Pininfarina and Maserati are another long-standing duo, and among their collaborations, the beautifully proportioned GranTurismo stands out as one of our favourites. Unveiled at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show, the design of the GranTurismo is muscular and imposing, yet carries the elegance and refinement one would expect from Pininfarina.
Pininfarina Battista
After ending its relationship with Ferrari, Pininfarina began to focus on its own models, with the exceptional Battista proving one of the most beautiful. Introduced in 2019, the Battista is an all-electric hypercar that is immune to hyperbole in terms of both design and performance. With an eye-watering 1,900 horsepower, it stakes its claim as the most powerful car ever. It’s unequivocally Pininfarina with such sleek lines, and the perfect tribute to the company’s founder, after whom it was named.
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Notable non-automotive designs
While cars naturally define Pininfarina’s legacy, the influence of the design house extends far beyond motoring. In fact, since the 1980s, Pininfarina has been involved in the design of everything from buses to cooking utensils, and even designed an Olympic torch for the 2006 games in Turin.
Yachts
The design heavyweight also earned its water wings over the years with its yacht designs. Most notably, in 2016, it teamed up with Princess Yachts and naval architects Olesinski to design the X95 – a cutting-edge luxury superyacht designed with unrestricted vistas for functionality and entertaining.
Trains
Pininfarina also has a long history in train design, developing high-speed trains in Italy and Spain, and standard trains in Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. Significantly, Pininfarina was behind the new Chunnel-crossing Eurostar e320, as well as the Golden Pass Express, running between three of Switzerland’s main tourist destinations.
Homewares
Away from transportation, Pininfarina’s elegant lines can be found in homes around the world. In addition to furniture – such as chairs and sofas – the design house has teamed up with kitchen brands such as Imetec, Bormioli Rocco and Lavazza. Pininfarina kitchen collections include juicers, kettles, toasters, coffee machines, and glassware.
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Pininfarina’s company history: through the decades
1930s-1950s
Carrozzeria Pinin Farina was established in 1930 by Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina – although the family surname was later officially changed to Pininfarina. The first plant opened in Turin that year, employing 18 people. Over the next decade, the company built bodies for brands including Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Cadillac, and Rolls-Royce.
However, production of automobiles was replaced by ambulances when the Second World War broke out in 1939. The original factory was later destroyed by Allied bombers during the war.
Even after the conflict in Europe ended, grudges were held. Because of this, Italy – including Pininfarina – was banned from the Paris Motor Show in 1946. This didn’t stop Battista and his son Sergio from driving to Paris in two of their newest creations and parking them outside the entrance to display to the hundreds of thousands of attendees – a stunt that earned them an invite to the following year’s show.
1950s-80s
In 1951, after a meeting at a restaurant between Turin and Modena, a legendary partnership was formed between Pininfarina and Ferrari, and would endure for over 60 years.
By the mid ‘50s, Pininfarina began construction on a new manufacturing plant in Grugliasco, which opened in 1958. The first task at the new factory was to produce the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, of which 1,025 units were completed in the first year of operation.
In 1961, at the age of 68, Battista handed the company to Sergio and his son-in-law, Renzo Carli. From then, the company continued to bloom with new research and design studios opening, along with its own full-sized wind tunnel in 1972, enabling the testing of full production-size vehicles.
1980s-now
The ‘80s and ‘90s were both prosperous decades for the design house, although the millennium hit and with it came serious losses and huge debt. By 2015, Pininfarina had parted ways with Ferrari and was acquired by the Indian multinational giant Mahindra Group.
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The fascinating history of Pininfarina and Ferrari
The historic alliance between Pininfarina and Ferrari almost didn’t happen. It’s reported that in 1951, with a prospective partnership on the table, neither Battista Pininfarina nor Enzo Ferrari wanted to visit the other’s facility first. Eventually, Sergio Pininfarina convinced the stubborn businessmen to meet at Aurora Girarrosto restaurant in Tortona, where the families finally intertwined.
The following year, the Pininfarina-designed Ferrari 212 Inter was unveiled as the first collaboration between the two. By the 1970s, Pininfarina was responsible for every Ferrari road car, aside from one or two. This means that Pininfarina is to thank for so many legendary designs, from the 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB to the 2002 Ferrari Enzo.
The celebrated relationship began to taper off by 2011, when Ferrari established its own in-house design studio, Centro Stile Ferrari. The studio initially worked alongside Pininfarina, but within a few years, all design work was absorbed by Ferrari’s in-house unit.
What was the last Ferrari designed by Pininfarina?
Pininfarina’s last Ferrari design (to date) was the extreme F12berlinetta, which was unveiled in 2012 and sold until early 2017.
The relationship between the two companies is apparently still strong and may revive in the future, with Ferrari saying that the marque will continue to work with Pininfarina on special projects. Watch this space.
Why and when did Ferrari stop using Pininfarina?
Ferrari stopped collaborating with Pininfarina in 2012, bringing an end to a relationship that spanned more than half a century.
While few people know what really goes on behind the scenes, the most straightforward explanation is that Ferrari stopped using Pininfarina because its own in-house design studio, Centro Stile Ferrari, rendered Pininfarina’s services surplus to requirement. However, there were also rumours that the marque may have ceased working with Pininfarina due to its purchase by the Mahindra Group.
How many Ferraris did Pininfarina design?
It’s difficult to put an exact number on the number of Pininfarina-designed Ferraris, although – according to the design house – the figure is around 200.
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Discover Italy, the spiritual home of supercar design, with Ultimate Driving Tours
If this exploration of Pininfarina history has you hungry for a trip to Italy or a journey in a Ferrari – or both – then join us for our sensational Supercar Tour d’Italia.
In this bucket-list luxury driving tour, you will have the chance to cruise across northern Italy in two different Ferraris, as well as a fleet of other latest-release supercars. Reach out to our friendly team today to learn more.
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