SVT DEAD. (repost?)

[Pharcyde253]

[SIZE=2]" 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."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]http://www.nloc.net/forum/showthrea...hlight=svt+dead[/SIZE]

[igor2]

http://forums.focaljet.com/team-pit-...hlight=trouble

Yes and no.. this is full month old... but the arguments are the same... or at least similar..

Igor

[Clegg]

Makes sense... I mean Chrysler is having smashing success with their special vehicle group (SRT), GM is ramping up its special vehicle teams, Asian companies have had killer success wiht their high performance companies (NISMO, Mugen (while not part of Honda - they are closely tied), etc...).

So in typical ford reverse thinking, if somethings working good for your competitors... aviod it at all cost (bringing hot compact cars to the US, building up a compact car/sub mid size car market to compete against Honda/Toyota, Diverisfy their sales channels)...

Who needs performance minded people with open pockets? Not ford it seems. Keep selling F150's to hill billies, and call it good.

Never thought I would see the day when I would consider Chrysler/Dodge to be one of the most forward thinking companies in the US currently (the US divisions of Daimler that is)

[igor2]

^^Well if you count Mugen in, then Ford has Two: Roush and Saleen

Igor

[BUR_ZX3]

I always thought Mugen was offical Honda spinoff... they were closely tied during the late 90s in Forumula 1 I know....

[CrUziN4L]

its dead to the public...


but don't think they won't revive it whenever they want

-chris

[Clegg]

Originally Posted by igor2

^^Well if you count Mugen in, then Ford has Two: Roush and Saleen

Igor

Valid enough

[slidemaster]

Makes sense... I mean Chrysler is having smashing success with their special vehicle group (SRT), GM is ramping up its special vehicle teams, Asian companies have had killer success wiht their high performance companies (NISMO, Mugen (while not part of Honda - they are closely tied), etc...).

So in typical ford reverse thinking, if somethings working good for your competitors... aviod it at all cost

Ford is using SVT for projects all over Ford Motor Company- Its more needed than ever. Man I get tired of exaggerated doom posts.
btw the Gt500 is a 2 year production only. But guaranteed a year from now someone will say Ford is crap, there killing the Gt500 (like its new news) The Gt was a 2 year production- hmmm the SVT Cobra terminator (2003,2004)was a 2 year production

[MattZTS]

at the end there it said they sold 145,000 svt products. was that since the svt begining? or just 2004?

i dont know the svt name doesnt mean that much really. come on a svt lightning. who needs a performace pick up. the svt focus was 40hp more big deal(considering they have a over 200hp rs over seas). the mustang was pretty good tho. i never called it an svt mustang tho it was always just the mustang cobra to me.

[focaljet-1]

Originally Posted by BUR_ZX3

I always thought Mugen was offical Honda spinoff... they were closely tied during the late 90s in Forumula 1 I know....

Mugen was founded by Soichiro Honda's son.

[BUR_ZX3]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

Mugen was founded by Soichiro Honda's son.

Sooooooooo officially unofficial.

[igor2]

It's official now ...

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.

-----------------------------
SOURCE:http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=109512

[BUR_ZX3]

Good article. Really shows the death of an organization.

[ZX3ST]

So sad to hear... X eleventy-billion

[Virtual_Insanity]

Originally Posted by BUR_ZX3

Good article. Really shows the death of an organization.

It sure was and it is sad to see what happened.

[secondechomatt]

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.

So, it was the GT's fault?? You mean we finally have something/one to blame??

It is sad to see it go, SVT was a glimmer of hope within the organization for me.

[Thameth]

Originally Posted by BUR_ZX3

I always thought Mugen was offical Honda spinoff... they were closely tied during the late 90s in Forumula 1 I know....

Yea but as far as i know you can't buy a Mugen Civic from the factory, so its not the same as SVT and not really "Official".

Mugen would be, as stated above, Roush or Saleen. Actually, does Mugen even sell full cars? I thought they just did parts....

I know they've made concept "Mugen" Honda's but they don't sell full cars as far as i've heard, could be wrong.

[BRZX3R]

I had heard last week from a good source that SVT was going to die on April 1st. However, I heard yesterday from an engineer who was at Ford working on the Shelby, that SVT was not dead. So who knows, but my guess is that it is dead.

[focaljet-1]

While the article is probably true, it's not "official" official just quite yet.

I've known the writing was on the wall for a while. When I interviewed Tom Scarpello in '02 and asked him about the, then upcoming, SRT-4 he was confident about Ford being able to answer the challenge. When that didn't happen I was let down.

When John Coletti left, IMHO abruptly, my gut told me it was only a matter of time.

Everyone I've met at SVT were true car guys and it's a damn shame that it looks as if it's an end to an era. It comes down to resources, which they obviously haven't been given.

[02LGZX5]

Maybe their trying to gear up for a big comeback in a few years, like GM did with the camaro and firebird?? At least I hope so anyway. Hopefully Ford N\A can take a good look at the European market and say man we are selling everything we sell over there, let's move it on over to the states and see how it fairs. It's not likely but you never know,Ford is a screwy company that has terrible marketing tactics in the U.S.

[focaljet-1]

I would say to look for future performance versions of Ford cars to be labeled "ST" ala the current Focus.

My view has always been that they should have performance versions named "GT" of the Focus, Fusion, etc. available. They've already established that nomenclature with the Mustang. I posed this idea to several Ford marketing people in the past.

[secondechomatt]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

I would say to look for future performance versions of Ford cars to be labeled "ST" ala the current Focus.

My view has always been that they should have performance versions named "GT" of the Focus, Fusion, etc. available. They've already established that nomenclature with the Mustang. I posed this idea to several Ford marketing people in the past.

That reminds me, wasn't there a factory turbo focus in the last "focus fanatics" mag that was wearing the ST "street tuned" badge??

[SilverSVT]

My understanding is that SVT got rolled together with other performance divisons into Team Ford Racing or the like...

[BUR_ZX3]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

When John Coletti left, IMHO abruptly, my gut told me it was only a matter of time.

QFT. He really was the lifeblood of the division.

[kamann]

What a shame, and sad. My SVT Focus is what sealed my loyalty to the brand, and hate to see it go. I will however look forward to what Ford Racing and Ford Racing Technologies ( FRT ) will come up with. The spirit of SVT will live on.