A splendid Cisitalia 202 from the beginning of the 1950s and, a few metres away, the extraordinary Pininfarina Battista, which has just begun road testing. Thus, the Italian body-maker that is, perhaps, the most prestigious of all is celebrating its 90th birthday, grasping the occasion to put together an interesting discussion entitled “Design as the engine of Made in Italy: the value of Pininfarina, from car to architecture”. The event took place in the context of the Triennale di Milano, an amazing temple of industrial design. The speakers included the CEO of Pininfarina, Silvio Pietro Angori, who immediately wished to underline the importance of the partnership with Mahindra, a pillar of future growth. In return, the president of the Indian Group, Anand Mahindra, clarified in a video message that “Pininfarina is destined to remain an independent icon and our key to the international luxury market”.
Pinninfarina’s well known freedom of action doubtless also appears to be a result of its “timeless” characteristic, a feature “that has always defined the company’s style and that, together with innovation, constitutes one of the two basic elements of its success” observed Benedetto Camerana, president of MAUTO (The National Automobile Museum). Among the most significant examples of such eternal creativity, the renowned 1970 Ferrari Modulo stands out. Although linked to its era, it remains a timeless classic. On this topic, Chris Bangle remarked how the prototype belongs to a “period in which design made use of an expressive openness that was not influenced by the so-called features of the brand, which, in reality, are nothing but the result of the temporal stratification of aesthetic proposals and should not be interpreted in a constrictive sense, as sometimes happens today”.
At the end of the debate, which was followed by the nomination of the new Chief Creative Officer Kevin Rice, it’s clear that Pininfarina’s future planning directions will be directed at ever more varied horizons, like the Cyrela tower constructed in Istanbul (winner of the 2019 International Architecture Award) and a very new architectural initiative launched in Spain (for Excem Real Estate) prove. Without doubt, however, the car will remain the authentic guardian of the excellent taste that the body-maker is capable of. That amazing Cistalia is there to remind us.
