UPDATE 1-Pininfarina to launch capital increase

* Rights issue for up to 70 million euros

* Family to take up its share of rights

MILAN, May 22 (Reuters) - Italian car designer and niche manufacturer Pininfarina SpA (PNNI.MI) will launch a rights issue for up to 70 million euros ($96 million), it said in a statement on Friday.

The loss-making company said the capital increase was part of a December 2008 plan to restructure its medium and long-term debt and that the rights offering was planned for the start of the summer.

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Pininfarina Finance Director Gianfranco Albertini said the Pininfarina family holding Pincar would take up its 50.6 percent share of rights in the capital increase.

Bank loans will allow Pincar to subscribe to the issue even though its stake is pledged to the banks, he said, adding the family wanted to remain owner of the company.

The rights issue conditions will be set by the board in a subsequent meeting, the statement said.

In addition, Albertini said the company had received a "reasonableness" opinion from an outside expert, a Turin university professor, on the company's business plan to restore the group to health.

Pininfarina shares closed down 1.25 percent at 3.95 euros.

(Reporting by Nigel Tutt, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

($1=.7254 Euro)