• June 21, 2010

Saab Automobile is hoping for a design renaissance with Bertone and Pininfarina designer Jason Castriota, whom the company has tapped as its new design director.

Castriota will report directly to Saab Automobile CEO Jan Ake Jonsson.

The New Yorker attended car-design mecca the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., then joined famed Italian auto design house Turin-based Pininfarina. He was also director of design at Stile Bertone and opened a design consultancy with offices in New York and Turin.

Spyker, a Dutch sportscar boutique, bought Saab from General Motors for a reported $74 million in cash this year. The European Investment Bank sweetened the pot with a 400 million euro loan.