Legendary auto design firms shutters production plant [Photo Gallery]
by CanadianManufacturing.com Daily Staff
MILAN—Auto design and coach building company Pininfarina has announced it will no longer build car bodies, giving up on the business that made the company famous around the world.
The company says it is closing its production facilities and laying off the 127 workers that remain.
It will, however, continue its design and engineering business.
The company is blaming the 2008 economic crisis that saw a steep decline in sales for automakers that contracted companies like Pininfarina to make specialty cars.
Pininfarina produced its last cars in 2010, completing contracts for the Alfa Romeo Spider and Brera and the Ford Focus Coupe Cabriolet.
In its heydey, the company produced as many as 40,000 cars a year, designing vehicles for the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, Cadillac, Ford and Honda.
Check out some of Pininfarina’s more memorable designs.
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*Photos courtesy of Pininfarina
