Head of Pininfarina is killed

Andrea Pininfarina, the chief executive of the Italian car design firm founded by his grandfather, which counts Ferraris and Alfa Romeos among its creations, died yesterday in a road accident near the northern Italian city of Turin.

Pininfarina was driving a scooter along a provincial highway when he struck a car whose driver failed to stop at an intersection, said Luigi Semenzato, the police chief in the town of Trofarello south of Turin. The driver "didn't see the Vespa coming," Mr Semenzato told Sky Tg24 television news.

Pininfarina, 51, was the third generation to run Pininfarina SpA, founded in 1930 by his grandfather Battista "Pinin" Farina – who ran together his nickname and last name to create the company's name and a new surname.

Pininfarina SpA has designed cars for Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Cadillac and Volvo, but is most closely associated with Ferrari. The company designed nearly all of Ferrari's models since the 1950s, including the convertibles California Spider and Daytona Spider. Andrea Pininfarina took over as chief executive in 2001, in 2006 also becoming chairman of the board, a position previously held by his father, Sergio Pininfarina, who is a senator for life in the Italian parliament.

"Italy, Turin and the entire Fiat Group have lost a symbol of entrepreneurialism, a man who carried on, and introduced innovations to, the work of his grandfather Pinin and his father Sergio," Fiat chairman and Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said in a statement.

Pininfarina is survived by his wife and three children.