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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchPininfarina began in Turin in 1930 as Battista “Pinin” Farina’s coachbuilding business. Over the decades, it grew from crafting individual car bodies into a design and engineering group whose work extends beyond automobiles. Its history also includes a long Ferrari relationship—and a later, separate electric-car brand that shares the Pininfarina name.
What Pininfarina is—and what it is not
The name covers two distinct entities that are easy to confuse. Pininfarina S.p.A. is the long-running design and engineering company founded by Battista Farina. Automobili Pininfarina is a separate electric luxury-car brand launched in 2018, according to a Mahindra company announcement. The shared name reflects a connection, but the two should not be treated as the same company.
The history below follows Pininfarina S.p.A. Its chronology draws on the company’s heritage account and non-financial statements, with early company history also documented by MuseoTorino. Corporate milestones and present-day figures attributed to Pininfarina are the company’s own accounts.
How the Farina family business began
Stabilimenti Farina, 1910
Pininfarina’s roots predate the company usually meant by the name. In 1910, Battista Farina—nicknamed “Pinin”—founded Stabilimenti Farina with his brothers Giovanni and Carlo. MuseoTorino describes the business as initially focused on automobile bodywork and repairs. During World War I, it shifted to wartime production.
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Carrozzeria Pinin Farina, 1930
Battista later left Stabilimenti Farina and established his own business. Pininfarina’s heritage account dates the founding of Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in Turin to May 22, 1930. It built special bodies for individual customers as well as small production runs. The distinction matters: the 1910 date belongs to the earlier family firm; 1930 is the founding date of the company that became Pininfarina.
Early coachbuilding, aerodynamic work and wartime disruption
Streamlined forms in the 1930s
Aerodynamics was part of Battista Farina’s design approach from the company’s early years. Pininfarina’s heritage timeline highlights the Alfa Romeo 6C Pescara Coupé aerodinamico, shown at the 1935 Milan Motor Show, and the 1936 Lancia Astura Cabriolet tipo Bocca, which it describes as a small series of streamlined cabriolets. The company’s heritage page quotes Farina’s memoirs describing aerodynamics as the “form of speed”; it does not identify the edition or page.
Expansion and the war years
MuseoTorino reports that the company had grown to 500 employees by 1939. It says production shifted to military vehicles during World War II and that Farina aided local resistance groups. Those details are reported by the museum’s institutional history; they are not figures or claims from Pininfarina’s current company overview.
Postwar recognition and the move toward larger production
The Cisitalia 202
Pininfarina’s 2023 non-financial statement identifies the Cisitalia in 1946 as the company’s first worldwide recognition. Pininfarina also says the car became the first automobile to enter the permanent collection of a modern art museum, MoMA in New York. The company’s 2020 statement makes the same claim. No collection date is stated here.
The Cisitalia marked an important step in how Pininfarina’s work was regarded: the company’s own account presents it not only as a car design, but as a work recognized in a museum context. That recognition helped establish the firm’s postwar reputation beyond the world of coachbuilding.
Ferrari and the 1950s
Pininfarina says its partnership with Ferrari began in the 1950s. Across its company histories, it names the Ferrari 250 GT, Testarossa and F12 Berlinetta among the notable results. These examples span different periods of the relationship; they are not a complete list of Ferrari models designed by Pininfarina.
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From special bodies to industrial scale
The company’s work was increasingly connected to production beyond one-off commissions and small series. Pininfarina’s 2020 non-financial statement reports that 27,000 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider units were manufactured in 1955. The same period saw development of the Grugliasco facility: Pininfarina’s heritage timeline places planning and construction between 1955 and 1958, while MuseoTorino dates the transfer of operations to the new plant to 1958.
Sergio Pininfarina and the growth of technical capability
Leadership passes to Sergio
In 1961, Sergio Pininfarina succeeded his father at the head of the family business, according to Pininfarina’s histories. Under his leadership, the company increasingly joined design work with research and technical development.
Research facilities and engineering
The company’s heritage timeline dates the inauguration of its Studies and Research Centre at Grugliasco to 1966 and the start of activity at a full-scale wind tunnel to 1972. In 1979, the business took the form of a holding company. These milestones show how Pininfarina added facilities and capabilities alongside its design practice.
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New company structures and design beyond cars
Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche S.p.A. was established in Cambiano in 1982. The company says it listed on the Italian stock exchange in 1986, opened a production plant in San Giorgio Canavese and established Pininfarina Extra to take its design capabilities beyond transportation. Its 2020 statement describes this period as part of a broader focus on design and research services.
From manufacturing emphasis to design and engineering services
In the 1990s and 2000s, Pininfarina continued to extend its international footprint and technical work. Its official history records the creation of Pininfarina Deutschland in 1991 and an engineering center in Cambiano in 2002.
Pininfarina’s 2020 and 2023 company statements describe a strategic shift away from dependence chiefly on unique and limited-run car production. The group expanded its international design and engineering services as orders from large manufacturers declined, and progressively reduced production facilities. This was a change in emphasis, not evidence that all manufacturing ended.
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The Mahindra era and a broader design portfolio
Entry into the Mahindra group
Pininfarina’s company reports say it became part of the Mahindra group in 2016. That corporate milestone should be distinguished from the 2018 launch of Automobili Pininfarina, the separate electric luxury-car brand described in Mahindra’s announcement.
Selected projects after 2016
Pininfarina’s 2023 history records a range of later projects. In 2018, it presented the HK GT, developed with Hybrid Kinetic Group, and the H2 Speed, developed with Green GT, at Geneva. The company records the unveiling of the Battista electric supercar in 2019, the Teleo cable car project in Toulouse in 2020, and the Teorema virtual concept in 2021. These are selected examples from a broader portfolio, not a full catalogue.
What the group says it does today
Pininfarina’s current group page describes work across automotive, architecture, nautical, transportation and mobility, and product and experience design. As of October 8, 2026, the company reported headquarters in Cambiano, around 500 employees and more than 1,950 completed projects. These are current company-stated figures and may change.
Pininfarina’s history in brief
| Year or period | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1910 | Battista Farina and his brothers Giovanni and Carlo found Stabilimenti Farina, focused initially on automobile bodywork and repairs (MuseoTorino). |
| May 22, 1930 | Battista Farina establishes Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in Turin (Pininfarina heritage account). |
| 1935–1936 | The company highlights the Alfa Romeo 6C Pescara Coupé aerodinamico and Lancia Astura Cabriolet tipo Bocca as early streamlined designs (Pininfarina heritage timeline). |
| 1946 | Pininfarina identifies the Cisitalia as its first worldwide recognition and says it entered MoMA’s permanent collection (Pininfarina 2023 statement). |
| 1950s | Pininfarina says its Ferrari partnership began. |
| 1955–1958 | Development of the Grugliasco facility begins; MuseoTorino dates the transfer of operations there to 1958. |
| 1961–1979 | Sergio Pininfarina succeeds his father; the company opens research facilities, begins full-scale wind-tunnel activity and adopts a holding-company structure. |
| 1982–1986 | Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche is established, the company lists on the Italian stock exchange, and Pininfarina Extra extends design work beyond transportation. |
| 1991–2002 | The company records the creation of Pininfarina Deutschland and an engineering center in Cambiano. |
| 2016 onward | Pininfarina reports joining the Mahindra group and documents selected projects across vehicle, mobility and other design fields. |
Why Pininfarina’s story extends beyond famous cars
Its history is not simply a sequence of celebrated vehicle designs. The company moved from custom coachbuilding toward larger industrial work, invested in research and engineering, and later described a strategic emphasis on international design and engineering services. Its present-day account spans several sectors beyond automotive. The Ferrari relationship and the Cisitalia’s reported museum recognition are important parts of that history, but neither alone describes the full scope of the company’s evolution.
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