Pininfarina, ten years later. The historic made in Italy brand, founded in the 30s and for almost a century a protagonist above all (but not only) of automotive design, is once again speaking to investors for the first time since 2008 and does so by presenting a completely different, more financially sound company – thanks, but not only, to the acquisition of 76% by the Indian group Mahindra, which alone covered a 200 million hole in the balance sheet – and with new business objectives.
First of all, a particular eye on foreign markets, where Pininfarina produces 90% of its turnover and employs half of its staff (there are 350 employees in the historic headquarters of Cambiano, near Turin, and as many scattered around the world, above all in Germany): the 2017 financial year was that of the return to profit 14 years after the last time, revenues growing in all areas of the world, from Europe to the USA, from China to the Middle East, which recorded the best performance with a real boom, +600%, thanks to important orders in Iran and Dubai .
“But above all – the managing director Silvio Pietro Angori explained to analysts and journalists at the headquarters of the Milan Stock Exchange – the last period was that of the attainment of financial stability, with the debt which in 2007 was more than 600 million and which now we have reduced to less than 38 million”. Which obviously opens up new scenarios in Pininfarina's perspectives, the brand famous for its design and then unsuccessfully transformed into a car manufacturer, sinking into a crisis that seems to have been overcome and which could also open up to new acquisitions: “Until a few months ago we were naturally unable to acquire anything. It is no secret that we have put some assets up for sale. What I can say, however, is that we will not grow only internally, even if it is still too early to say in which direction and what”, said Angori.
Meanwhile, it is certain that Pininfarina will focus heavily on the US market, which has always been sensitive to the charm of high-end Made in Italy: an office in Miami already exists, just opened one in Los Angeles too. “California – explained the CEO – is becoming the hub of all innovations in the automotive sector and industrial desgian, with another concentration of startups, qualified entrepreneurs and investors who support, for example, a gold rush in the field of autonomous driving. That's a place we have to stay." And savers like the initiative: the share on the Stock Exchange, which has been growing steadily for almost two years now (in October 2016 it was worth just 1 euro, today 2,6 with the peak reached in June above 3 euro), gains almost 4 % to €2,64 per share.
However, in Pininfarina's future there will no longer be just cars, as is already the case now, and above all there will no longer be just design. By now 55% of the turnover comes from the automotive engineering business, with important customers all over the world, not only FCA and its brands such as Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, but also GM, BMW, Ford, Toyota. Precisely for this reason, as part of the corporate reorganisation, a new company was created on 1 July, Pininfarina Engineering, 100% controlled by the parent company. “With the new structure – said Angori – which sees design and engineering in two specific and distinct legal entities, we want to favor the shortening of the chain of control in design and the centralization of commercial strategies”.
Design that, over the years, has gone far beyond the automobile. In fact, if we all know the legendary Ferrari 458 Pininfarina Sergio, also called simply Ferrari Sergio Pininfarina, not many know that the company now he also designs trains, planes, yachts, even cable cars in places with mountains and skyscrapers, as has already happened in Dubai but also in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is the so-called industrial design, which surpasses that linked to the car: there is that in the field of electronics, both luxury with watches and smartphones with the partnership with Samsung; among the most important customers there are also Coca-Cola (drink vending machines), Lavazza, Telecom and Juventusin the field of architecture and interior design. Historically linked to the world of Fiat and Juventus, Pininfarina also designed some parts of the Allianz Stadium.
