Jason Castriota

Jason Castriota is an accomplished automotive designer, born in White Plains, New York, and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston, and although he briefly attended the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, he dropped out to pursue his passion for automotive design. Castriota’s career began with an internship at Pininfarina, which eventually led to a full-time position at the renowned design studio in Turin, Italy.

During his time at Pininfarina, Castriota made significant contributions to both production and concept cars. He played a crucial role in the design of iconic production vehicles such as the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Maserati GranTurismo. His work also extended to groundbreaking concept cars like the Maserati Birdcage 75th, which received U.S. patents for its design. Additionally, he was involved in the Rolls-Royce Hyperion project. As Head Designer, Castriota also led special projects, including one-off, exclusive cars for private collectors. Notable among these projects were the Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina, a restyled Ferrari Enzo for American car collector James Glickenhaus, and the Ferrari 612 Kappa, a redesign of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti for Peter Kalikow.

Castriota left Pininfarina in September 2008, just before the Paris Motor Show, and moved on to become the Design Director at Stile Bertone. In 2009, he also founded his own design consultancy, Jason Castriota Design LLC, with offices in New York and Turin.

In 2010, Saab hired Castriota as its design director, where he had the opportunity to influence the brand’s future direction. Later, he joined Skylabs, a product design firm in New York, in 2014. By early 2016, Castriota was recruited by Ford Motor Company, where he took on the role of Advanced Strategic Design Leader. He contributed to Ford’s EV strategy as part of Team Edison, focusing on the development of electric vehicles like the Mustang Mach-E, one of the fastest-selling EVs on the market.

Castriota is also known for designing the SSC Tuatara, a sports car produced in Washington State. The Tuatara set world speed records in January 2021, reaching a top speed of 286.1 mph (460.4 km/h) on a one-way run, and a two-way average of 282.9 mph (455.3 km/h). In May 2022, the Tuatara achieved a verified top speed of 295 mph over just 2 miles, cementing its place in the history of high-performance automobiles.