PAOLO Pininfarina, chair of the legendary Italian automotive design house bearing his name, passed away last week after a long illness at the age of 65.

He was the son of Sergio and grandson of Battista “Pinin” Farina – who created the business and changed the Farina family name to Pininfarina in 1961.

Paolo Pininfarina

Paolo’s career in the automotive world was pre-destined through the influence of his father and grandfather who took pains to steer him in the “right” direction from a young age.

His rise to the top of one of the best-known car design houses in the world was seen as somewhat unusual as Paolo was a mechanical engineering graduate from the Polytechnic University of Turin.

“My favourite area was mechanical engineering,” he said in an interview. “I was a little shy of design as it was so strategic, so central. Design was so tied with creativity and intuition that I was not feeling ready.”

He was intimately involved in the machinations of Pininfarina during a creative purple patch in the company’s history that spawned vehicles like the Ferrari Dino, 288 GTO, F40 and F430 as well as the Peugeot 406 Coupe, under design director Leonardo Fioravanti and his deputy Lorenzo Ramaciotti.

Paolo learned a lot from these and other luminaries along the way.

In 1987 he became chair and CEO of the new Pininfarina Extra company, which oversaw the industrial, furnishing, architectural and non-car transport sectors.

Diverse clients for Pininfarina’s touch included Coca-Cola, Lavazza, Motorola and Aeronautica, the interior of the Juventus FC stadium and the ceremonial torch for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.

Paolo was elevated in tragic circumstances to Pininfarina Group chair in 2008, inheriting the role from his brother Andrea who died in a scooter accident.

He will be remembered for steering the wider business with courage – navigating a global recession, a takeover by Mahindra in 2015 and on into a new exciting era of self-branded, all-electric, hyper-luxury cars via a separate venture, Automobili Pininfarina.