[angelmb]

Excuse the shameless copy/paste… R.I.P. Andrea. Formulo sentite condoglianze alla famiglia.

The chairman and CEO of Pininfarina, Andrea Pininfarina, 51, has been killed in a motorcycle accident near the company’s HQ in Cambiano, near Turin.

Reports from Italy have confirmed that a car (Ford Fiesta) hit Pininfarina’s Vespa scooter as he commuted to work this morning. The driver said he "just didn't see" Pininfarina.

Pininfarina was the grandson of company founder Battista Pinin Farina and shares executive duties at Pininfarina with three other family members — his father Sergio is honorary chairman, brother Paolo is vice-chairman and sister Lorenza sits on the board.

Today the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a statement Pininfarina was "the representative of a dynasty that helped bring the story of 'made in Italy' to the world."

The tragedy will hit the tight-knit Italian design community hard and comes at a crucial time in the re-structuring of loss-making Pininfarina.

New investors, including Piero Ferrari, Ratan Tata and Vincent Bollore, are due to inject £80m into Pininfarina to re-capitalise the company.

As a result, the Pininfarina family will cede control of the company for the first time since it was founded by Battista Farina in the 1930s.

Currently the Pininfarina family controls around 55 per cent of the company. When the cash injection is complete, that will dilute to 30 per cent.

[Laminar]

Too bad he wasn't driving an SUV. Then the Fiesta driver would have been toast.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Not to make light... but a Ford Fiesta? What an ignoble death.

[osiris]

His art will live on.

RIP

Veni Vedi Vici

[Atomic Rooster]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Not to make light... but a Ford Fiesta? What an ignoble death.

I couldn't live it down, ah, well, nevermind.

Have nice forever sleep.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Not to make light... but a Ford Fiesta? What an ignoble death.

They're still making them over in Europe, so it's not as if you're getting hit by one of these:



Probably more like this:



edit: And considering he was driving something on two wheels, we now know he must have been swerving, changing lanes without signaling, and showboating.

[osiris]

Here's a nice shot of the man and his work:

[Dakar the Fourth]

Ford Focus, same damn thing.

[Railroader]

I owned a Ford Fiesta. Nice little car. Owned when commuting to college in the late 80's/early 90's. I got around 38 mpg.

Looked like this model.



Didn't Pininfarina design the Cadillac Allante'?

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Ford Focus, same damn thing.

Nope.



I feel like iMitchell right now, pretending I know something about foreign cars and all.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I still have the fallback option of calling it ignoble because he fell to an American car.

You can't win.

[osiris]

I'm still stunned that he was on a Vespa. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but come on - Ferrari?

[Cipher13]

Focus/Fiesta/Festiva - they're all quite different.

[badidea]

Originally Posted by osiris 

I'm still stunned that he was on a Vespa. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but come on - Ferrari?

Perhaps he already had a huge Johnson?

[IceEnclosure]

Big or little johnson, I'd imagine lots of people like fast cars. What really counts are the cojones to operate it at full tilt.

..and the vespa, isn't that pretty standard stuff over there? Especially in these eco-aware times.

[Dakar the Fourth]

At the very least, it's thoroughly Italian.

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by osiris 

I'm still stunned that he was on a Vespa. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but come on - Ferrari?

True. Any car designed by Pininfarina as today (Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, 612 Scaglietti, Maserati Quattroporte and GranTurismo) would mean he would probably be still alive, sure a Vespa is really beautiful, an icon and all that… but you can't be safe with it out there, you just can't.

So what if he was instead driving a 599, it would be another wrecked supercar, who cares?, the one below belonged to Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat whom I suppose too old to drive that thing… but a human being?, now try to replace that…

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I feel like iMitchell right now, pretending I know something about foreign cars and all.

Oooooh. OOoooooh. Good one. I don't pretend to know, I do. Believe it or not I love foreign cars. Every car that I've owned has been foreign, and I know a lot more about foreign cars then I do about American ones.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by Cipher13 

Focus/Fiesta/Festiva - they're all quite different.

American made subcompacts that I consider lame and, so far, have all been pictured in a shade of red. Similar enough for me.

[imitchellg5]

The Fiesta isn't American made. The good Focuses aren't either.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Nope.



I feel like iMitchell right now, pretending I know something about foreign cars and all.

Strawman! That's the latest model.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

Oooooh. OOoooooh. Good one. I don't pretend to know, I do. Believe it or not I love foreign cars. Every car that I've owned has been foreign, and I know a lot more about foreign cars then I do about American ones.

By "owned" do you mean "titled in my name" or "my parents' car that I drove?"

Anyway, I wish Ford would ditch the stupid American Focus and Fusion and bring over the Fiesta, Focus, and Mondeo from Europe. I don't see how they WOULDN'T sell. Besides the two I've already posted, the Mondeo looks great, too. Plus you can get it with a 2.0 diesel that has 236 lb-ft of torque, or a gasoline turbo 4 with about 220hp.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Careful Laminar, I'm not sure where the forum stands on wounding someone's pride being infraction worthy.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by angelmb 

True. Any car designed by Pininfarina as today (Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, 612 Scaglietti, Maserati Quattroporte and GranTurismo) would mean he would probably be still alive, sure a Vespa is really beautiful, an icon and all that… but you can't be safe with it out there, you just can't.

So what if he was instead driving a 599, it would be another wrecked supercar, who cares?, the one below belonged to Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat whom I suppose too old to drive that thing… but a human being?, now try to replace that…

Actually, I was implying a certain sense of irony that the man designs Ferraris for a living, and there he was riding around on a Vespa. In another ironic twist, maybe Andrea felt safer driving a scooter rather than a supercar.

[stevesnj]

http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/3109/

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

By "owned" do you mean "titled in my name" or "my parents' car that I drove?"

Anyway, I wish Ford would ditch the stupid American Focus and Fusion and bring over the Fiesta, Focus, and Mondeo from Europe. I don't see how they WOULDN'T sell. Besides the two I've already posted, the Mondeo looks great, too. Plus you can get it with a 2.0 diesel that has 236 lb-ft of torque, or a gasoline turbo 4 with about 220hp.

Yes, I mean titled in my name.

I agree. I have no clue why the Mondeo wouldn't sell. The Fusion is a decent car and sells in okay numbers, but the Mondeo would completely outclass it. The next Focus for America will be pretty much the same as the European version luckily. IDK how well the Fiesta would do as it is, but a 5 door Fiesta would probably compete very nicely with the Honda Fit, especially the Fiesta ST. The 3 door Fiesta could probably compete with the regular Mini Cooper, although it isn't nearly as cute.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

Yes, I mean titled in my name.

So that's what...one? Two? It doesn't really matter, though, I wasn't clear what I meant by "foreign." I was referring to vehicles not available in the US, not vehicles you see 18 times every day.

[imitchellg5]

Ah. I try to keep up with Euro Fords and VWs, but as far as stuff like the Frenchie Renaults and Peugots I'm pretty clueless.

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Besides the two I've already posted, the Mondeo looks great, too.

But the Euro Mondeo doesn't look like that, I guess that is some kind of concept/illustration work… this is how it really looks, four door version and five door version…


Anyway, I guess you are right and it would sell well there cause it is just too big for Europe, 4778 mm. long for the 5 door version and a whooping 4844 mm. long for the four door version, that's pretty much like a BMW 5 series. BTW the Mondeo recently got a new 2.2 Diesel engine delivering 175HP courtesy of PSA.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by angelmb 

But the Euro Mondeo doesn't look like that, I guess that is some kind of concept/illustration work… this is how it really looks, four door version and five door version…

Apart from the more attractive angle up top I really don't see that much difference (gas tank lid and antenna excluded).

[angelmb]

IMHO and compared to that blue Ford, I find euro Mondeo being dead flat from any angle. I would say the blue Ford sports a certain resemblance to a Maserati Quattroporte.

[stevesnj]

The Pininfarina designed Rolls Royce Hyperion