TURIN, Italy - Andrea Pininfarina, 51, the CEO of Italian design house Pininfarina, died Thursday when a car collided with the Vespa motor scooter he was riding.

As of Thursday morning, the Pininfarina Web site was silent about the death of Pininfarina. Still up was a link to a video of Pininfarina as he traced 'the history of the company for you.' The company was expected to issue a statement later today.

Pininfarina was founded in 1930 by Andrea's grandfather Battista Pinin Farina. The company has designed cars for Ferrari — including such high-profile offerings as the Ferrari California — for more than 50 years. But Andrea Pininfarina emphasized the long reach of the design house into areas far beyond automobiles. 'Starting from the 1980s, we developed various telephones for Telecom, coffee machines for Lavazza and last but not least, the torch which was in some way the symbol of design for the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics,' he said in the video.

Pininfarina is currently producing such models as the Ford Focus Coupe Cabriolet and the Alfa Romeo Brera. Last year, it announced an electric-car joint venture with France's Groupe Bollore.

The death is expected to further roil Pininfarina, which has been in the middle of a restructuring while it grapples with financial woes. Bloomberg.com reported that Pininfarina's 2007 loss widened to the equivalent of $176.9 million from $33.7 million in 2006. It noted that investors are speculating on a possible sale of the company.