Ferrari P4/5 designer Castriota heads to Saab

Jason Castriota, the noted designer who created the Ferrari P4/5 and the Maserati GranTurismo, is taking his talents to Saab.

He will be in charge of design for the Swedish automaker as it looks to develop a new image after being sold by former parent General Motors, Bloomberg News reports.

Castriota will work on developing an upscale model of the 9-3 and will try to bolster Saab to better compete with BMW and Audi.

“It's absolutely vital we get this car right,” Castriota told Bloomberg. “This is Saab returning to its roots, not having to worry about being part of a much larger machine that they were before in the GM organization.”

The Detroit automaker nearly closed Saab as part of its restructuring, but instead sold the iconic Swedish brand to a group led by Dutch supercar maker Spyker.

Castriota, 36, has run his own design firm and also worked for Pininfarina and Stile Bertone.

By Greg Migliore