Tag: Saab Design

New York Times profile Saab Designer, Jason Castriota

We’re yet to see the full depth of Jason Castriota’s design work for Saab Automobile – a fact not lost in this NY Times profile of Saab’s current design chief.

This brief profile ends a little too quickly for my liking, but it’s a nice backgrounder for those who don’t know a lot about Jason’s career so far.

Right: Jason with PhoeniX at Chelsea Piers, in New York

The article traces his beginnings as an art student in the north-eastern US and follows his accelerated rise to prominence after leaving the US for jobs with Pininfarina and Bertone in Italy. There is a quite a lot of Saab-talk in the article, but given that his public work with Saab is confined so far to the PhoeniX concept car, there is more talk about the company than the vehicle, which is a little disappointing.

Like you, I’m very much looking forward to a time when they re-visit articles like this and have a lot more to talk about in terms of vehicles.

For now, though, this is a good article and it’s great for Saab and for Jason to be featured in the NY Times.

Recommended reading: New York Times profile Jason Castriota

Below: Jason working with a journalist at the 2011 New York International Auto Show

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Saabosphere – things we liked this week

Greetings all. Sorry for the lack of posting in the last few days but I had one or two things outside of Inside Saab that needed finishing in quick time. Back on deck now.

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The hardest working man I’ve ever seen in my 40 or so years on this earth. Unbelievable.

…… from yesterday.

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Your must read for this week is an article that’s actually a few weeks old.

John Simister is a writer with Octane, a classic and performance car magazine, and he owns a two-stroke Saab 96.

He recently had the good fortune of visiting with Mr Saab, Erik Carlsson, and took his 96 along for the trip. What ensued was the sort of thing that automotive enthusiast’s dreams are made of.

He got to see his own classic car in the hands of the master, and then got to drive the master’s Saab 96 for himself.

It really is fantastic reading for any Saab fan.

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Yes you do. Nice 9-5, that one.

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Car Design Community is an online hangout for people interested in the topic. They seem to have a regular competition called SketchFighters where they ask community members to provide designs using various criteria.

One tricky condition of the competition is that members only have one hour to design and then post their designs on the website.

Earlier this week they tackled Saab and it’s always fun to see what others come up with in terms of future Saab designs.

Here are a couple of my favourites, but there are plenty more at SketchFighters.

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Ever driven across the United States?

Phil L recently picked up a MY2000 Saab 9-5 in New Jersey and decided to bring the car home to Seattle…. with a camera.

What he’s put together from that trip is a 3,000+ mile timelapse – one photo every 10 seconds – that will take you from Boston, though New York, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin (wet!), Iowa (home of next year’s Saab Owners Convention), Minnesota (is that dead bug on the windscreen giving him the finger?), South Dakota, Wyoming (Cowboy Up!) and Montana before he crosses into Washington and gets home to Seattle.

It’s 24 minutes, so you’ll need some time, but it’s very watchable. It’s interesting to see the changes in landscape, the clouds and even the vehicles on the roads. Great drums on the soundtrack, too. Enjoy.

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