Saab has 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 the company's CEO, Jan Åke Jonsson.
He and his design company will be responsible for exterior and interior style and will lead the design activities at Saab as the brand renews and broadens its product range.
Castriota hails from New York and graduated from Emerson College in Boston before attending the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In 2001, he left the college to join Pininfarina's design studio in Turin.
In Pininfarina, he worked under Ken Okuyama and later Lowie Vermeersch. As a designer he took part in the design of production cars such as the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and Maserati GranTurismo, concept cars like the Maserati Birdcage 75th and the Rolls-Royce Hyperion. As Head Designer for Special Projects, he was also involved with one-off exclusive cars for particular customers, such as the "Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina" (a restyled Enzo Ferrari for American car collector James Glickenhaus) and the Ferrari 612 Kappa, a restyling of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti for car collector Peter Kalikow.
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.
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."