No more SVT?

marauder307 said:
I dunno if MB really views it that way. Not taking issue with your statement---it's your view, and you're entitled to it---but from my perspective, I get the vibe that MB really just views DCX as their bumpkin American cousins.
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Except that Chrysler is making money and MB isn't. MB is dealing with some large problems. They are not seen as a value by many of their old buyers.
 
03marauder99vic said:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/classified/automotive/orl-nuts0206mar02,0,5611100.story

Thoughts?
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It's another article of just speculation. Must be a slow NEWS day.

Much of what has been said is old news.................the new Cobra, the SVT products being offered for sale by all Ford dealers (and why not?)

Some of the 'old' SVT dealers are already shooting themselves and the new Cobra.....the local one has announced a $25K "local market adjustment" for the Cobra when they get it in.....that would make it about $65K. The idiots.
 
Im disapointed at the cancelation of the adrenalin. SVT well I always thought the shops should be a cert SVT shop but any dealer could sell the car.
 
I've been reading about SVT's demise since ~98. I won't believe that SVT is going away until I hear it from Ford.
 
SVT murderer?

Warpath said:
I've been reading about SVT's demise since ~98. I won't believe that SVT is going away until I hear it from Ford.
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"Elena Ford, is Ford Motor's director of North America product marketing, planning and strategy"

Hmmm...sounds like she is sum kinda Big Shot that plans the demise of ...certain products ...(Marauder?) ...and maybe... SVT?
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Warpath said:
I've been reading about SVT's demise since ~98. I won't believe that SVT is going away until I hear it from Ford.
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Sounds pretty certain to me that it will be happening. Here's another article on the issue.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Columns/articleId=109512#4

Team spiritless: Ford's SVT concept is history
Date posted: 03-06-2006

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.

Just over a year ago, I wrote a column titled "SVT: A near-death experience?" It was more prophetic than I'd hoped. SVT, responsible for such products as the SVT Cobra Mustang, the SVT Lightning pickup, the SVT Contour and the SVT Focus, no longer has a dedicated marketing staff, a dedicated public relations staff, an independent engineering team, a press fleet or an events trailer. The dealer network that was painstakingly assembled among Ford's top dealers has crumbled, and some dealers reportedly are talking about a class-action lawsuit.

SVT's longtime executive staff is gone, and, oddly enough, so are the Ford executives who developed and executed SVT's demise.

Yes, the 2007 Mustang in Shelby Cobra trim is still coming, and yes, it was developed by SVT. And yes, it'll have SVT badges, because it's too late to take them off. But it is the last genuine SVT product.

By "genuine," I mean it was developed by SVT, from concept to execution, then sold through the network of 600 dedicated Ford SVT dealers, who paid to be part of SVT, sent employees to SVT training and stocked SVT parts. Any future Ford products that carry an SVT badge, and it is unlikely any will, will be more of a "suspension tuned by SVT"-type vehicle. And the 7,500 Shelby Cobra Mustangs sold for 2007 — more, if they can get enough transmissions — will be offered to all 3,900 Ford dealers, not just SVT participants.

SVT has had no dedicated products since 2004. A high-performance version of the new 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. "As part of our way forward, we are adjusting our product plan and decided not to produce the Sport Trac Adrenalin," said Ford spokesman Jon Harmon. The Ford GT supercar, which was developed largely by SVT engineers but was not called an SVT model, will end production later this year.

If you check the official SVT Web site, there remains a glowing story about the Adrenalin, and when it's coming to market. "I guess we're a little behind on that Web site," said one Ford executive. Yes, I guess.

This is the second such embarrassment for SVT: The company showed a concept version of a new 500-horsepower Lightning in 2003 and promised to produce it, but in late 2004, pulled the plug.

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, charged with building and selling high-performance versions of existing products. SVT also set up a separate dealer network, signing up Ford dealers who 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 in 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.

So what went wrong?

It appears that the balls-out effort to build the Ford GT by the company's 100th anniversary took its toll on the SVT staff, slowing development of more mainstream future products, such as the next-generation Lightning, an updated SVT Focus and an SVT version of the Fusion. The Ford executives who oversaw SVT, group vice presidents Steve Lyons and Phil Martens, didn't give SVT the resources it needed to rebuild.

Martens is gone; he's running Plastech, a company that supplies spoilers and scuff plates and other bits and pieces to the manufacturers. And Lyons retired March 1 to move to Arizona and run a Ford dealership. Reportedly Lyon's replacement, Cisco Codina, likes SVT, but it's too late.

Why? Because SVT's top executives are gone, too. John Coletti, the bulldog engineer who was the heart and soul of SVT, retired at the end of 2004. Tom Scarpello, Coletti's counterpart on the marketing side, moved to Jaguar. Chris Theodore, a Ford vice president who spearheaded the Ford GT, is gone. This leaves the talented, personable Hau Thai-Tang to run SVT. Essentially, he's a captain without a ship.

It's painful to see what has happened to SVT, especially when you look at the success of Chrysler's SRT program, which in many ways mirrors what SVT was. In the grand scheme of Ford's problems, botching SVT is a small one. But to enthusiasts, it speaks volumes.

Nearly 10 years ago I was in Las Vegas, the first to drive the upcoming SVT Contour. John Coletti and I, en route to some all-you-can-eat buffet at a casino, were talking about GM's current strategy of hiring brand managers for each model. It was not a successful program, but I was playing devil's advocate.

"Maybe it's a good thing," I told Coletti, "to have someone whose job it is to be excited about the Chevrolet Cavalier."

Coletti thought for a moment. "But wouldn't it be better to just build cars that you didn't have to pay someone to be excited about?"

Yes, John, it would. And you and your team always did.
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Beginning of the end?

..."A high-performance version of the new 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. "As part of our way forward, we are adjusting our product plan and decided not to produce the Sport Trac Adrenalin," said Ford spokesman Jon Harmon. The Ford GT supercar, which was developed largely by SVT engineers but was not called an SVT model, will end production later this year."...


Ok, Jon Harmon, who is we? Will Ford become the truck division of Honda by 2008?
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Bad news for SVT!

Word is now as of april 1, 2006. there will be no svt rides. that's sad news for performance cars for ford. - :(
 
Ford is just bringing SVT in-house with instead of them being a partner along with the company. Within time after some R&D Ford will be putting out SVT vehicles again such as the Focus, Fusion, 500, Ranger and F-150 but not as SVT vehicles themselves but as a (project name "power sport")trim level offered on the future current models. I had stopped into the old Ford dealership that I worked at which only ever sold the SVT Focus and this is what the general manager told me what Ford is hinting to their dealership owners. The only thing that made a difference between a regular dealership and SVT dealership is having trained techs to work on the SVT vehicles besides general maintnence just like some dealership can sell the Escape Hybird and some can't because they have to have atleast 1 trained tech to be able to work on the vehicle. If this is what Ford really has in mind then I think its the best thing for them and customers. It's also like what D/C is doing now with their SRT line-up, using an in-house performance.
 
03marauder99vic said:
Sounds pretty certain to me that it will be happening. Here's another article on the issue.
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That's what I mean, I've been reading these types of articles for years. They got bad enough a couple of years ago that people started a petition or mail/email barrage to keep them around. Then came the 03 Cobra (the best thing to come from SVT save the GT). So, this is nothing new. Although, rumor around Motown is that Ford doesn't know what its going to do with SVT. I've heard some odd ball ideas are being thrown around. Sometimes when a company tries to reinvent something, they come out strong and straight up awesome. Other times, they come out making you wonder WTF?
 
I spoke to an SVT engineer and he stated things are still in the air. But, apparently, SVTOA - SVT Owner's Assosiation used to be run by SVT. It is now going to be run by FRPP and include all performance vehicles. So, interpreting from this website and from other rumors, Ford appears to still be interested in performance. But, it is combining SVT and FRPP as some have stated. Read about it here:

http://www.svtoa.com/
 
I emailed a guy I know in SVT. Rest assured Ford performance is not going anywhere. Here is my question and his response:
My question:
Hey *****, the rumors on the web sites are deafening. Is SVT dead?

Charlie
response:

Hi, Charlie!

SVT Engineering is alive, but the SVT engineered vehicles may be labeled other than with an SVT badge.

Sounds fine to me.

They can call it what they want, as long as ther is Ford performance vehicles.
 
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