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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.

BMW DesignworksUSA Metro Inspiro

DesignworksUSA, the global design consultancy of BMW, has created its vision of the Metro system. Commissioned by Siemens in the summer of 2010, the BMW Group subsidiary developed the design of the new Metro Inspiro – a further chapter in the long-standing cooperation of the two partners. The Metro Inspiro assignment tasked the design team to live up to the increased demands on travel comfort and spatial perception, optimize transport capacities and provide regional public transportation services with additional possibilities for individualization.

2014 Nissan Leaf pricing announced

Nissan has announced pricing for its pure-electric Leaf, which seems to be growing more popular by the hour. This time last year Nissan slashed the price of the Leaf by a whopping $6,000, sending into the sub-$30K territory, and for 2014 the price and equipment list has barely changed. The Leaf's driving range remains at 84 miles on a full charge, and the mpg-equivalent ratings stay at 126 mpge in the city and 101 mpge on the highway, for a combined rating of 114.