Jason Castriota to head Saab Design

When Car Design News spoke to Jason Castriota about the new design consultancy he had set up in New York and Turin back in March, the designer told us he was working on a very exciting automotive project that he couldn't talk about at the time. It turns out that automotive project was for Saab, as last week the Swedish automaker announced it had hired Jason Castriota Design to oversee the development of a new generation of Saab products – the first to be completed under the tenure of its new owners, Spyker.

Castriota's new appointment marks the shift from Saab's former position – where the brand was an integrated company within GM – to its newfound placement as an independent automaker, with Castriota essentially filling the role previously occupied by Mark Adams, GM Europe's Vice President of Design.

Perhaps befitting of Saab's leftfield nature, the arrangement between Saab and Castriota is far from conventional: it is the first time an external consultant has been hired to fill an executive role within an existing design structure. We spoke with Castriota earlier this week and asked him whether he had himself been hired as the company's new design director, or whether his company had been hired as an external consultancy to advise and work on the next generation products. "It's actually a blend of both," Castriota replied. "They have hired my consultancy to design the next generation of cars, but they have also given me an internal role of design director, as part of the leadership team, which is going to help define the future product strategy and the brand."

CDN understands that Simon Padian, Saab's current brand design chief, is still currently leading the internal design team and working alongside Castriota's consultancy. Padian, who has headed Saab's design studio since 2005, will report to Castriota while continuing to manage the internal team and running of the studio day-to-day. Castriota will sit on the company's board and advise on the future design direction of the brand, reporting directly to Saab CEO Jan Ake Jonsson. The former Pininfarina and Bertone designer will continue to run his own consultancy from New York and Turin.

"I will basically be responsible for guiding the internal team, who will blend with my team to make sure we achieve everything needed to make that happen," Castriota said.

Castriota told CDN that the relationship with Saab had only truly begun at this year's Geneva motor show, when Saab's new bosses had expressed to him their desire for the next 9-3 (the first Saab to be designed outside of GM's stewardship) to be a 'bold courageous design' before enlisting his support to pursue this objective. Having initially worked on one-off concepts for the next 9-3 between the Geneva and New York auto shows, it appears Saab's new owners have been sufficiently impressed with the work of Castriota's team to hire them to work on the entire next generation of vehicles for the brand.

CDN understands that as part of his agreement with the company, Castriota's design consultancy will not be able to work for automotive OEM in the same space as Saab, but can continue their work in the other areas, such as premium sportcars.

Watch this space for a full designer interview with Jason Castriota in the coming weeks, which includes more information on the future of Saab and Saab design.

Related Article:
Who's Where: Jason Castriota opens own design consultancy
Who's Where: Jason Castriota joins Stile Bertone
Saab 9-5 - Frankfurt 2009

By Joe Simpson and Eric Gallina