Thursday, August 12, 2010

This Bodes Well for Saab

A U T O M O T I V E   N E W S — Saab's new design director, Jason Castriota, answered critics concerned about his experience and ability to "get" the Saab brand. Instead of sitting in his Turinese ivory tower, or glass-and-steel enclosed office more likely, and being "above it all" as SO many automobile design directors would do, Castriota wrote a long letter to the club that voiced its concerns. If I had ever become a car designer, and perhaps been elevated to chief designer at some point, I'd like to think this is exactly the same thing I would do. In fact, I know it is. Without even seeing any of his future designs, I have no doubt that this designer "gets" the brand and gets what is at stake here, nothing less than the Saab brand itself. Saab won't be around in five years if he doesn't get it right.

For the Autoblog article I first read about this matter in, click here.
For the letter from the Saab United club to Mr. Castriota, click here.
For Mr. Castriota's reply to the Saab United, click here.

I really think this exchange is fantastic. Castriota's letter is clear, concise, very well written, and gives us an insight into his personal thoughts, his design ideas, and the company's mission statement. It's great that we live in this age of instant communication and widespread transparency. In decades past, private letters would have been sent, perhaps copies would have been sent to the club members, but more than likely none of us in the general public would know that in addition to his massive design skills, just how considerate and well-versed in his new brand Castriota is. That is the sign of a good person in addition to a great designer. I think the Saab brand is in good hands! "True, Bold Saab," indeed. It will be really interesting watching how he builds this storied brand.

11 comments:

  1. AFTER ALL THIS TYPING YOUR HAND MUST FEEL BETTER. THAT'S A GOOD THING. SOAK YOUR HAND IN THE SALTS . IT'LL HELP ALOT.

    GRANNY

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  2. i bought some Epsom salts last night and soaked my hand for an hour. I'll do it again today. The pain is gone, I have one finger that's still quite swollen, but I can type so I can work too. That's good! I might not play the piano for a while if i can't bend my finger. But I can work, so I'll be fine. Thanks for recommending the salts! I love home remedies!

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  3. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Saab. GM was not the best steward. There cars lost the quirkiness that endeared them to there loyalists. In Detroit, most Saabs were viewed as a mere reskins of a existing GM car, not unlike Mercury. The last Saab that really got me excited was the 900 Turbo from the early 80's.

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  4. It's interesting that Castriota says that his 1st car was a 1989 Saab 900 3-door hatch. That does sound like good news for Saab/Spyker.

    I may even forgive him for his "Mantide." I apologize if I've offended anyone, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

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  5. I LOVE a Saab....my kinda funky feel. You know I don't pretend to know anything about cars, but I know what I like!
    mare

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  6. I'd have to see the Mantide in person I think.... in pics it's WAY too busy for me. the red and black was a bit too "italian restuarant in a mall" for me too. But I bet it has lots of interesting details in person. I"d love to read a design brief for it, or Castriota's design notes to see what he was trying to accomplish. But on the other hand, beauty shouldn't need to be explained!

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  7. Mare: i had a Saab once, and after only a few months it gave its life for me, lol. i was hit from behind and pushed into the car in front of me. my Saab was totalled but I didn't have a scratch, I was never even sore. I was hurt more this last time on my bike! there is a Saab dealer in town, and I'd say almost every 10th car is a Saab around here. I"m excited for their future.

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  8. Saab's are few and far between out here...My son's friends (mid to late 20's) bought one and I LOVE it! There is also an older red one in the next town that I have seen more than once...what year and color was yours?? I would like to tell it "thank you" for keeping you safe!!
    mare
    oh, good look on the cleaning...I did that yesterday and am SO over it today!

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  9. oh Mare, I'm so over it TODAY! all i want is a vacuum that works, works for an hour, works for 2 hours without having to take it apart and clean IT! i've had to take the hose off twice so far, 4 screws each time to clear a clog. This old house just makes dust and dirt, it seeps up through the old wooden floors, blows out the floor registers in the winter, comes in the open windows from the train tracks! plus the carpets are busy orientals and i must drop change or something that then bends the fans or something. i just tossed out three old vacuums! I have a really old Electrolux that needs a hose, but it's hard to find anyone to work on it. this 'new' one is a DIrt Devil I bought it at a discount store, and when I got home and opened it up it had a 'manufacturer reconditioned' sticker on it! no wonder it was only $56. even it it breaks totally today, that's cheaper than a cleaning service I called. I thought I might get someone for once a month, maybe 4-6 hours, and they have a $100 MINIMUM service charge plus gratuity. i can't afford $100 a month for that! 4-6 hours would only make a dent anyway. Oh well. They'd probably steal more than $100 worth of little things, lol. A friend of mine had a maid and all she ever cleaned was the bottom of the vodka bottles and filled them with water! she didn't last long.

    going back to the hardwoods floors now.

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  10. oh, my Saab was a '94 in a dark raspberry color with beige leather, it was really good looking, a 5 door hatchback. it came with an optional full wood dashboard too. I bought it used and only had it a few months before it was totaled.

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  11. Casey,

    I've always had a fondness for Saabs -- I think the first ones I saw were at a very minor imported car show at a nearby strip mall where I grew up in New Jersey. I know they had the 850 model (I think that was its name) which was a 96 done up as a rally car -- it even had a Halda Speed Pilot built into the dashboard and a headrest on the passenger seat. I think it would have been either 1957 or 1958. They also had a Volkswagen Type 2 camper which my dad seemed interested in but nothing ever came of that! I had a very interesting Saab brochure from the early 60s (it's probably in one of my storage rooms -- don't ask) that featured a Saab dealer in a small town in Vermont (I think -- it could have been New Hampshire). The dealership was a small old garage with a Saab sign out and two 96s parked in front. According to the brochure, almost everyone in town had been converted to Saab-ism! They appeared to be real people telling the stories of why they loved their Saabs.

    I have high hopes for the new 9-3 and I hope Saab is able to build something closer to their roots in the US -- a small cleverly done car in the class of the Golf. The 96 (and my fave, the 95) were just a bit upmarket from the VW and Dauphine and their ilk. The 9-3 will likely be competing with the Audi A4 and ITS ilk. Smaller seems to be the way to go these days!

    Paul, New York City

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