MILAN, Italy - Reports say Andrea Pininfarina, chief executive of the family Italian car design firm that counts Ferraris and Alfa Romeos among its creations, died Thursday in an accident near the northern city of Turin.
The local police chief told Sky Tg24 television news that Pininfarina, 51, was on a scooter and collided with a car whose driver failed to stop at an intersection.
Pininfarina ran Pininfarina SpA, founded in'30 by his grandfather Battista "Pinin" Farina, who combined his nickname and surname to create the company name and a new family name.
Pininfarina SpA has designed cars for Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Cadillac and Volvo, among others - but is most closely associated with Ferrari.
It has designed nearly all of Ferrari's models since the'50s.
Andrea Pininfarina took over as chief executive in 2001, and in 2006 also became chairman of the board of directors, a position previously held by his father, Sergio Pininfarina, who is a senator for life in the Italian parliament.
Andrea Pininfarina studied mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic of Turin and started his career in the United States with Freuhauf Corp. in'82, before returning to the family business a year later.
He was a frequent visitor to Ferrari headquarters and nurtured close relationships with the technical experts. He also was a former vice president of the Confindustria industrial lobby.
"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, a former Confindustria president, said in a statement.
Pininfarina is survived by his wife and three children, according to Italian media reports.
There was no immediate announcement of funeral arrangements.
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