[tripleblack]

Originally Posted by Fordgazm

Um Jeb ..........SVT is already gone .

If you believe some rather sloppily prepared pr from Ford, SVT will soldier on as a "fully-intergrated part of Product Development" (hence my amoeba dna analogy). Or for those with parsing ability, "SVT is already gone".

The new Shelby GT500 is built on the same line at AAI as the 6 cylinder and 4.6 mustangs. It should not be badged a SVT (though lots of press photos key in on the SVT license plate someone tacked on the show car). SVT logos occur on some of the engine parts (as well they should, given that only these parts were available off the shelf and really fit the mechanical needs of the show car), but it is not nor was it meant to be the product of the old SVT we all knew and loved. The remaining engineers at SVT (those not pushed into early retirement) have been reassigned to Product Development reporting to Tang, an absolute team player and Ford apparatchik, who was originally not given the additional title of "Director of SVT" until the wails of the SVT owners were heard, and a bone was tossed (and Tang caught it) to appease the masses. The days of a high-powered skunkworks inside Ford with independent ideas and the ability to turn dreams into reality are gone. So is the SVT Cobra, as is the Lightning and the SVT Focus (project seems to have been reassigned to Ford Europe - given Ford's commitment to rally racing on that continent).

The GT500 is not an indication of the future of SVT, as some misleading statements from Ford would have you believe, but instead a last gasp from the final work of that vanishing organization.

Ford of course owns the rights to the SVT name, and you can look for them to use it to market cars and trucks - especially those lines with weak sales. Look for the Adrenalin to be morphed into a Freestyle. Look for a kit car Focus with no go-fast under the hood. Look for the new, non-selling and not-so-fuel-efficient hybrids to get the "SVT treatment". One can only imagine what a Lincoln LS SVT would be like - Vinyl roof, maybe?

I don't know about you, but I just can't wait for the new Ford 500 SVT sedan, with the constant velocity tranny whirring away under the hood and some grotesque wing sprouting from the trunk lid like a mutant mushroom...

Sorry, sometimes I let my dark side out.

We can all hope that Ford comes to its senses before they fall into the same pit GM is inhabiting. The clock is ticking. To my mind, their marketing of the new Shelby will be a good indicator of their ability to turn things around...

tripleblack

[Saleen Owner]

[quote=kscoyote]GM and other companies raided (stole) the money to pay execs, who are making bad decisions, and IMHO don't deserve their salaries, especially bonuses which are to pay for "excellent performance."[quote]

They raided the money at GM to help pay the 5.6 BILLION dollar a year health care costs the UAW will not budge on. Execs make pretty stupid money, but I've never heard of any making billions.

[kscoyote]

[quote=Saleen Owner][quote=kscoyote]GM and other companies raided (stole) the money to pay execs, who are making bad decisions, and IMHO don't deserve their salaries, especially bonuses which are to pay for "excellent performance."

They raided the money at GM to help pay the 5.6 BILLION dollar a year health care costs the UAW will not budge on. Execs make pretty stupid money, but I've never heard of any making billions.

2 of those billion went to Fiat!!!

with NO RETURN on the investment!!

the health care costs are part of the deal, part of the reason they're so high is that the U.S. largest employer (WAL-MART) doesn't pay for health care. The more people who can't afford insurance, the more it costs everyone.

I, for one, am tired of paying for health care for Wal Mart employee health care via medicaid, and ER costs that get absorbed by my insurance, driving up MY premiums as well.

GMs CEO, and Wiliam Ford, have made several speeches for single-payer health care, and I'm with him on that!