A long and often rich history is finally coming to a
close as struggling Pininfarina is now laying off the
remainder of its contract manufacturing division staff
and exiting this activity which has brought the famous
name to its knees.
A huge gamble on taking
on a swage of manufacturing contracts that were
financially stacked heavily in the favour of its clients
(including Ford, Mitsubishi, Volvo and Alfa Romeo) in
the middle of the last decade has brought the Turinese
company to the edge of bankruptcy and into the control
of its creditor banks.
Even in its latest
accounts the Pininfarina directors still cannot say if
the company can remain a going concern in the future and
no end seems to be in sight to the problems with no
buyer found so far, although a list of high profile
names have been linked with buying the remaining
businesses, which include its famous design activities
as well as the Pinfarina Extra division. Potential
suitors include Austro-Canadian car components maker
Magna-Steyr as well as several Chinese firms.
Now the division that caused the rot is finally put to
rest, although the last of its work had dried up. "Pininfarina S.p.A. announces that, today, it began to
carry out the procedures required by current regulations
for the purpose of implementing a long-term unemployment
benefit plan for termination of production activities
and staff downsizing, due to the absence of conditions
suitable for continuing to operate the production
activities," read a press release issued by the Turinese
company.
"The long-term
unemployment benefit procedure will apply to 127
employees of the production sector and of directly and
indirectly related units. This transaction will
result in a direct charge of 2.9 million euros for
contributions to social security institutions and
indemnities required pursuant to law, plus a payment of
about 2.5 million euros to liquidate the provision for
termination indemnities, which will be distributed upon
completion of the procedure, with no impact on the
income statement," the statement concluded.
In April Pininfarina
lost its share in
Véhicules
Electriques Pininfarina Bolloré (VEPB), the
innovative electric vehicle project which was developed
in Turin and which the firm had hoped to put into
production. Pininfarina's partner in the joint venture,
French industrial conglomerate
Bolloré,
took over Pininfarina's stake for 10 million euros
(after the Turinese company exercised a 'put' option) as
well as its Bairo
Canavese plant which is being earmarked to assemble the
Bluecar.
