Paolo Pininfarina is an Italian engineer, designer and businessman, known as the manager of the
world famous Pininfarina

Pininfarina

Pininfarina S.p.A. is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy.Founded as Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 by automobile designer and builder Battista "Pinin" Farina, Pininfarina has been employed by a wide variety of high-end automobile manufacturers,...

 design company of his hometown of Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 (2008).

He studied mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...

at Politecnico di Torino before joining his father Sergio Pininfarina

Sergio Pininfarina

Sergio Pininfarina is an Italian automobile designer, like his father Battista Farina. After joining his father at Carrozzeria Pininfarina, he quickly became integral to the company, and during his career oversaw many of the designs for which the company is famous...

's firm (1982), as trainee stationed abroad
with Cadillac

Cadillac

Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

 and Honda

Honda

is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...

 (1983), and then as quality manager of the Cadillac Allanté

Cadillac Allanté

The Allanté was Cadillac's first venture into the ultra-luxury roadster market. The vehicle was sold from 1987 until 1993, with roughly 21,000 models built over its 7-year production run...

 project (1984-86) and
program manager of the Engineering GM 200 at General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

 (1987-89) which led to
Chevrolet Lumina APV

Chevrolet Lumina APV

The Chevrolet Lumina APV was a minivan produced by General Motors for the 1990 to 1996 model years. In 1994 the APV was dropped from the name to make the name more consistent with the cars, and it was simply known as Lumina or Lumina Minivan. It is similar to the Pontiac Trans Sport and Oldsmobile...

, Oldsmobile Silhouette

Oldsmobile Silhouette

The Oldsmobile Silhouette and its siblings, the Pontiac Trans Sport and Chevrolet Lumina APV , were a trio of minivans that débuted in late 1989 as 1990 models...

 and Pontiac Trans Sport

Pontiac Trans Sport

The Pontiac Trans Sport and its siblings, the Chevrolet Lumina APV and Oldsmobile Silhouette were a set of minivans that débuted with radical styling in fall 1989 as 1990 models. There was also a Chevrolet Trans Sport sold in Europe until 2005 that was a version of the Chevrolet Venture that had...

. Paolo Pininfarina became the first
manager of the new Pininfarina Extra S.r.l. (1987)
which does design for non-automotive industries (furniture, appliances, maritime), while being
in the upper management of the automobile firm as well (board member 1988, deputy chairman 2006) where
he now is chairman (2008), succeeding his brother Andrea Pininfarina

Andrea Pininfarina

Andrea Pininfarina was an Italian engineer and manager, former CEO of the Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina, founded by his grandfather Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930 and still controlled by the family...

 (1957-2008).
Being a well known designer, he has been member in the steering board of Turin's Istituto Europeo di Design

Istituto Europeo di Design

The Istituto Europeo di Design is a design school that attracts students from over 90 different countries to its one and three year/four undergraduate, masters courses and advanced training courses....

 (1996-2004) and
is emeritus participating founder of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale

Associazione per il Disegno Industriale

ADI is an association of about 1.100 designers, manufacturers, trade newspeople, schools and researchers on design based in Italy.-References:** A web page dedicated to lifestyle. Contains an online design museum....

 of Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

.