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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.

JUNKER KEEPER: Federal database tracks totaled vehicles, clunkers

First, it was the hurricane-damaged used cars flooding the market. Now, it’s the clunkers turned in--and supposedly junked--as part of the federal Cars Allowance Rebate System “cash for clunkers” program. Following Hurricane Katrina, cars declared as total losses in one state were able to get clean titles in other states and were resold to unsuspecting consumers.

Lamborghini 5-95 Zagato is a one-off special at Villa d’Este (video)

The Lamborghini 5-95 Zagato (pictured) meets the crowds at Villa d’Este Zagato creations of Lamborghini cars are nothing new and have been around as long as Lamborghini has – fifty years or so – so the Lamborghini 5-95 Zagato isn’t a ground-breaking collaboration, even if it’s an interesting creation, and it’s nice to add it to the 1965 Lamborghini 3500 GTZ and Lamborghini Zagato Raptor as Zagato takes on a Lambo. The one-off 5-95 Zagato is based on the underpinnings of the (now defunct) Lamborghini LP570-4 and commissioned by collector Albert Spiess to showcase Zagato’s ability and to celebrate the 95th anniversary of Lamborghini. Spiess already owns a number of Zagato models – including the Aston Martin V8 Zagato and Aston Martin V12 Zagato – but Zagato has gone a bit6 further with the design of the 5-95 and created a car that looks little like the LP570-4 using the principles of functionalism and rationalism, apparently.