New Design Director at Saab Automobile

Posted on 18. Jun, 2010 by Ryan in 2000-2009, 9-3 NG, Designers

Photo Credit: Saab Automobile AB

New Design Director at Saab Automobile

* Former Pininfarina and Bertone designer joins Saab leadership team
* Will lead design for Saab’s product expansion program

Trollhättan, Sweden: Saab Automobile today announced the appointment of former Bertone and Pininfarina designer Jason Castriota as its new Design Director.

Castriota, 36, now takes the lead role in design at Saab, reporting directly to Saab Automobile CEO Jan Åke Jonsson. He and his design company will be responsible for exterior and interior design and will lead the design activities at Saab as the brand renews and broadens its product range.

Announcing the appointment, Jan Åke Jonsson said: “We’re delighted to welcome Jason to our leadership team. He has an outstanding track record in automotive design and will help us take the brand forward. He will play a key role in expressing all that’s best in the innovative tradition of Saab design as we carry our brand’s roots into the future.”

“I’m greatly looking forward to joining such an iconic brand,” said Castriota. “Saab has a very strong and distinctive heritage which gives it great potential to develop. This is an exciting opportunity for me to help shape its future products.”

Victor Muller, Saab Automobile’s Chairman, added: “Bringing a young, highly-talented designer to Saab underlines the company’s determination to produce cars which stand out because of their unique aircraft inspired, Swedish identity. With Jason heading up Saab design, we will be making landmark cars for the foreseeable future.”

Castriota hails from New York and graduated from Emerson College in Boston before attending the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In 2001, he left the college to join Pininfarina’s design studio in Turin, Italy. He took up the position of Director of Design at Stile Bertone in 2008 and then opened a design consultancy with offices in New York and Turin.

His recruitment is an important strategic step by Saab in its renaissance as a newly-independent carmaker.

Note to Editors:

Saab Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Aircraft Company) was founded in 1937 as an aircraft manufacturer and revealed its first prototype passenger car 10 years later after the formation of the Saab Car Division. In 1990, Saab Automobile AB was created as a separate company, jointly owned by the Saab Scania Group and General Motors, and became a wholly-owned GM subsidiary in 2000. In February 2010, Spyker Cars N.V. of the Netherlands, acquired the company from GM as an independently-run business.

Saab cars reflect the brand’s unique Scandinavian design ethic, which is fused with its aircraft engineering heritage. The company is a global premium car maker with a distinguished history of innovation. It is recognized for its pioneering role in turbocharging, as well as occupant safety and the introduction of flex-fuel technology through Saab BioPower. Saab Automobile AB currently employs approximately 3,500 staff in Sweden, where it operates world-class production and technical development facilities at its headquarters in Trollhättan, 70 km north of Gothenburg.

http://media.saab.com/

Contact:
Saab Automobile Press Office
Tel: +46 (0)520 279797

Tags: Bertone, Design Director, Jan Åke Jonsson, Jason Castriota, saab, Saab Automobile, Spyker, Stile Bertone