Back in 2013, Ferrari made the decision to split with longtime external design firm Pininfarina. The move was surprising, given the decades of collaboration and legendary products from the brands. In the years since, Ferrari has grown its own design center, Centro Stile, into a hub for the brand. In an interview with Motor1, design boss Flavio Manzoni reveals how the split went down, and how Ferrari evolved in a post-Pininfarina environment.
Though the last Pininfarina-designed Ferrari, the F12berlinetta, didn't end production until 2017, it was during the development of the LaFerrari when the company decided to part ways with Pininfarina. Manzoni told Motor1 both his internal team and Pininfarina were tasked with presenting a design pitch for the car, with upper management to pick which they preferred. Management picked Manzoni's design, marking the end of Pininfarina-badged Ferraris.
"At the beginning it was very, very tough for [Pininfarina] because after more than 60 years of collaboration they had to accept the idea that Ferrari wanted to create [its] in-house design center," Manzoni told Motor1. "But it was also necessary, because Ferrari was the only car manufacturer in the world without any internal design center, which [was] a bit strange, and also risky."
The decision wasn't influenced by opinions in design alone. The very act of building a modern performance car forced Ferrari to take a hard look at the way it designed vehicles.
"The other problem was that the level of technical complexity of the cars was increasing a lot," Manzoni said. "So it was necessary to work as a team with synergy, not with the designers working somewhere else and with engineers in Maranello.
"The presence of the design center in the in the factory is really important because there are meetings everyday with engineers, aerodynamicists, economists, etc. to converge, step by step, on the best shape possible, considering the incredible performance and objectives that a new Ferrari has to have."
Manzoni has been with Ferrari since 2010, responsible for leading the company's in-house design studio since its inception. But once Pininfarina stepped aside, even he was nervous to take on the immense task of designing all future Ferraris. "The beginning was difficult, a lot of pressure," he told Motor1.
His hard work has paid off, obviously. Since Ferrari went public in 2015, it's grown to nearly nine times its IPO value. The company sells more cars than ever, thanks in part to the Purosangue, its first SUV, released in 2023. The Italian carmaker is also planning to release its first electric vehicle in 2026. While Manzoni didn't share specifics, he expressed excitement towards working with new technology.
"Any project is a challenge," Manzoni said. "Every time there is an opportunity to work on a new technology—for example, all the hybrid Ferraris are new in terms of layout of the components—we had an opportunity to make something different. There's always an opportunity to promote innovation and progress."
