say goodbye to SVT

[Dark02Pony]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/class...tive-headlines

Quietly, Ford Motor Co. has been dismantling SVT -- the Special Vehicle Team -- and sources inside the company suggest that as of April 1, SVT, as we've known it since 1992, will cease to exist.

SVT has had no dedicated products since 2004. A high-performance version of the Sport Trac, called the Adrenalin, was shown at the New York Auto Show in March 2005. At a preview for journalists, SVT director Hau Thai-Tang said that the Adrenalin "is going to turn the performance-vehicle market upside down" when it goes on sale as a 2007 model. Then, last month, the Adrenalin was canceled as part of Ford's "Way Forward" restructuring campaign. The Ford GT supercar, which was developed largely by SVT engineers but was not called an SVT model, will end production later this year.

A new Shelby Cobra GT 500 Mustang is due later this year as a 2007 model. But it will be offered to all 3,900 Ford dealers, instead of SVT's network of roughly 600 dealers.

SVT was founded in 1991 by Robert Rewey, Ford's vice president for marketing and sales, and Neil Ressler, Ford's chief technical officer. The idea was that SVT would consist of a small group of engineers, designers and marketing professionals who would work inside Ford to build and sell high-performance versions of existing products. SVT also set up a separate dealer network, signing up Ford dealers that had an interest in selling performance products.

In 1992, the first two SVT products were launched: The 1993 F-150 Lightning pickup, and the 1993 Mustang Cobra. In 1997, the SVT Contour was introduced, and in 1999, the second-generation Lightning went on sale. In late 2001, the '02 SVT Focus went on sale. By 2004, when production of the Lightning, Mustang Cobra and SVT Focus ended, the company had sold about 145,000 SVT products.

It's likely that Ford will continue to produce special-edition models of several vehicles, but they will not be sold through SVT channels.

[slvr2000stang]

The Mach1 was the nail in the coffin.
It proved mainstream Ford could do what SVT had been doing.

[SpectorV]

Yup, the GT500 is SVT, and I am thinking they will have a few SVT things on it (wheel caps etc) but not 100% sure. I have heard though SVT that they would but that stuff changes. Ford will bring SVT back when they can.... to bad to see it go, but its not all bad. At least I have the last iteration of the mustang svt cobra for now.

[DarkShadow]

Meh, I'm not at all surprised by this. Ford had been giving SVT the shaft for years with their budget constraints. SVT did basically all the R&D on the Ford GT, but Ford comes along and makes it sound like they did it all in house and all SVT did was come by with a tire gauge and check the tire pressure when everything was done. The new Cobra IS an SVT car. That's their baby, but is their name on it? No. Carol Shelby stopped by SVT's office one day, sandwich in hand, and said "I approve of what your doing...whatever it is...", flashed a picture of the wheels and decals he wanted put on it, walked out and said "I'm going to lunch" and Ford put his name on it. I'm surprised SVT didn't walk out before Ford had the chance to demantle them.

[wiarumas]

that sucks...

[SpectorV]

stupid imports, the muscle car era is going back into hybernation for a bit... just as it did in the 80s (spelling)

[Thomas91169]

imports has nothing to do with it, its the american makers failing to produce quality performance vehicles at a decent price. killing SVT just goes to show what direction ford wants to go. ill be suprised if the Shelby GT500 lasts more than a 2 year run, suffering the same fate as the "Terminator" 03/04 cobras that were the best things to happen to mustang since ford decided the mustang was the only car that could be fastest car in the fleet.

[bbunt302]

I think it has more to do with the fact that Ford is in some deep financial shit right now and cannot afford to spend all the extra money on design, engineering, and production on these highly specialized, not so profitable vehicles.

Damn, that was a long sentence, worthy of a paragraph all on its own.

[Zim]

i got my svt out of the deal... somethin else will come along, although yes it does suck.

[SpectorV]

when ford goes into this sort of financial issue the first thing they do is drop all special projects/divisions and sponsorships... probably not the best thing to do but all they see is the current bottom line, SVT helped advertise... but i think ford wants to be seen is the green environment lover with 20hp cars~ that get 100 mpg.

[SpectorV]

also ford has known for years its quality sucks, and they have known for years that the mustang, for instance, has issues that the customers have asked to have fixed time and time again and they have done jack crap... they dug this hole for themselves.