Rumbles are coming out of Saleen that their long standing association with Ford may be coming to an end.
In an age when everybody on the planet seems to be cranking out tuner Mustangs, and when Ford is inking long term sweet deals with Shelby, Saleens are sitting around unsold.
Check out the price tags, and you will see why. Saleens are not "Fords" - Saleen prides themselves as an OE manufacturer these days, and when you buy a Saleen it is NOT a Mustang (believe it or not). This nose-in-the-air snootiness may appeal to some, but the difference between 0% financing and 10% financing on a $55000 car will just about double your payments, and the insurance costs on an "exotic" Saleen vs a "conventional" Rousch are about double as well.
So, the word is that Saleen is romancing Chevy, with their latest project a Camaro which will be appearing in the upcoming "Transormers" movie.
All you Saleen Mustang (oops - sorry, its a habit to think of them as Mustangs), er, I mean "Saleen S281" owners might want to contact them and see if this means you will have to take your Saleen to a Chevy dealer for warranty work.
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tripleblack
"You can never be free until you let yourself go."
You have discovered an op-ed piece on a story that is several years old. Steve released the idea that when Saleen's Troy, MI plant was opened that he had plenty more capability than just building GT's for Ford. The day the plant opened Saleen said he would shop the very unique service he has to offer to ANY manufacture who desired to build a concept car or produce small serial production exotics.
This guy really knows his $hit doesn't he? Saleen never really produced that many Saleen Mustangs for any given year. In fact if I remember right Saleen only made a profit off the cars for like two years. The driving force behind the cars was to have a showroom stock Mustang for Steve to race in SCCA endurance racing that would not get its ass handed to it by the competition.
There is definite pride to be had in having your own automotive manufacture status. Little things like having the worlds fastest production car coming out with your name on it, like the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo. How many other manufactures offer a 1000 hp US street legal car?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tripleblack
Rumbles are coming out of Saleen that their long standing association with Ford may be coming to an end.
In an age when everybody on the planet seems to be cranking out tuner Mustangs, and when Ford is inking long term sweet deals with Shelby, Saleens are sitting around unsold.
Check out the price tags, and you will see why. Saleens are not "Fords" - Saleen prides themselves as an OE manufacturer these days, and when you buy a Saleen it is NOT a Mustang (believe it or not). This nose-in-the-air snootiness may appeal to some, but the difference between 0% financing and 10% financing on a $55000 car will just about double your payments, and the insurance costs on an "exotic" Saleen vs a "conventional" Rousch are about double as well.
So, the word is that Saleen is romancing Chevy, with their latest project a Camaro which will be appearing in the upcoming "Transormers" movie.
All you Saleen Mustang (oops - sorry, its a habit to think of them as Mustangs), er, I mean "Saleen S281" owners might want to contact them and see if this means you will have to take your Saleen to a Chevy dealer for warranty work.
For those of you who choose not to follow the link to Mustang News and read the editorial, it's dated 9-23-06.
So they seem to think the news is timely.
Logic would seem to support their idea that Saleen is growing restive with competing with legions of Rousch/Steeda/Shelby types, some of whom have cut long term deals with Ford that they will find hard to match.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tripleblack
Rumbles are coming out of Saleen that their long standing association with Ford may be coming to an end.
In an age when everybody on the planet seems to be cranking out tuner Mustangs, and when Ford is inking long term sweet deals with Shelby, Saleens are sitting around unsold.
Check out the price tags, and you will see why. Saleens are not "Fords" - Saleen prides themselves as an OE manufacturer these days, and when you buy a Saleen it is NOT a Mustang (believe it or not). This nose-in-the-air snootiness may appeal to some, but the difference between 0% financing and 10% financing on a $55000 car will just about double your payments, and the insurance costs on an "exotic" Saleen vs a "conventional" Rousch are about double as well.
So, the word is that Saleen is romancing Chevy, with their latest project a Camaro which will be appearing in the upcoming "Transormers" movie.
All you Saleen Mustang (oops - sorry, its a habit to think of them as Mustangs), er, I mean "Saleen S281" owners might want to contact them and see if this means you will have to take your Saleen to a Chevy dealer for warranty work.
__________________
tripleblack
"You can never be free until you let yourself go."
They discovered that Saleen is in talks with GM to deliver a specialty Camaro for a movie. Like was mentioned several years ago, Saleen will build a prototype for anybody that wanted to use their expertise in this area. Not unlike the Mustang GTR concept car.
What the author of this story is doing is offering an opinion, not a news story. Thus the editorial status of the article. I could offer the opinion that Saleen sales have never been affected by those who could not afford to buy a Saleen in the first place. I'm sure Ferrari is the next manufacture to have sales problems because some op-ed author could not get 0% financing and had to settle on a Roush because he could not afford the payments. Just because in 2002 this guy could not afford the real deal and had to settle on a cheap imitation does not signal the end of Saleen. Hell this idiot could have waited and bought a Terminator in '03 for less money than the Roush and stomped a Roush. But then again, they were not offering 0% on the Cobras like they were on the Roushs because the Cobras were not setting around on the lots unsold.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tripleblack
For those of you who choose not to follow the link to Mustang News and read the editorial, it's dated 9-23-06.
So they seem to think the news is timely.
Logic would seem to support their idea that Saleen is growing restive with competing with legions of Rousch/Steeda/Shelby types, some of whom have cut long term deals with Ford that they will find hard to match.
I seriously doubt it, but if they did? wouldn't affect me one bit.
Saleen could switch to anyone but Dodge right now and I wouldn't care, I have no interest in their parts for my Fords, no interest in their cars, and no interest in their company. But if they started making specialty Chargers, Magnums and Rams for Dodge? Then I'd be interested, and waiting/hoping for parts for the generation that just ended last year, as well as 4.7 performance parts (though they'd probably go with the Hemi if they did go Mopar.)
As far as Saleen owners having to take their cars to Chevy dealers for warranty work in the instance of such a switch? Not sure, the Ford dealerships that are approved to sell for Saleen makes a short list, I'm willing to bet he'd try to get his Chevroleens out through that network first, while trying to establish a new network through Chevrolet dealerships as well. I'm willing to bet one of the criteria for Chevrolet dealerships would be willingness to do warranty work on his Ford-based Saleens though.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
I was just kidding about the warranty bit. Ford Dealers who have agreements with Saleen are bound by law to supply support until the final S281 (NOT a Mustang, NOT a Mustang) reaches the end of its 3 year warranty, which would probably be 2010 or later.
As for them picking Chevy to ally with, I was just estimating that too. They could well go with Dodge, particularly since opening up an alliance with Daimler/Chrysler might help them sell their S7's over in Europe.
Sorry 74stang2togo, but I think you're right - if they line up with Dodge, they will focus on the Hemi line - I doubt you'll see any motor parts for your 4.7. Suspension parts are a possibility, particularly if they open up their line to encompass trucks and SUV's (Saleen once briefly did an Explorer - perhaps one of the rarest of the Saleens - I've never personally seen one).
If someone asked me as a business planner whether Saleen should make a jump to Chevy, I'd say Yes, absolutely! He could continue making Mustangs (though many dealers might decline renewing their contracts knowing their Chevy competition across town was now also a Saleen competitor), and be in on the ground floor of the new Camaro - after all, as the article said (everyone did read the actual article, I hope?), he's already built one Camaro for the upcoming Transformers movie.
Saleen certainly has the production facility capacity - all that Ford GT line is sitting idle now. His negotiations with Ford to come up with a replacement for the GT came to zip, and his contract to build GT's is about up, so he needs to have SOMETHING for that big factory to do...
Its unlikely that Chevy will be in a position to transition a specialty Camaro right out of the box. Too much money and way too early in the product cycle! A deal with Saleen for a halo model for Corvette money may well make sense.
And I don't thinkt its safe to assume that Saleen will content himself with just one supplier for his cars. Saleen IS an OE manufacturer - he can buy supplies from anyone he pleases. We may yet see Saleen making Camaroleens, Challengerleens, etc. (he'll pick a number designation, like "S-7" or "S-281" of course).
Quote:
Originally Posted by 74stang2togo
I seriously doubt it, but if they did? wouldn't affect me one bit.
Saleen could switch to anyone but Dodge right now and I wouldn't care, I have no interest in their parts for my Fords, no interest in their cars, and no interest in their company. But if they started making specialty Chargers, Magnums and Rams for Dodge? Then I'd be interested, and waiting/hoping for parts for the generation that just ended last year, as well as 4.7 performance parts (though they'd probably go with the Hemi if they did go Mopar.)
As far as Saleen owners having to take their cars to Chevy dealers for warranty work in the instance of such a switch? Not sure, the Ford dealerships that are approved to sell for Saleen makes a short list, I'm willing to bet he'd try to get his Chevroleens out through that network first, while trying to establish a new network through Chevrolet dealerships as well. I'm willing to bet one of the criteria for Chevrolet dealerships would be willingness to do warranty work on his Ford-based Saleens though.
__________________
tripleblack
"You can never be free until you let yourself go."
Suspension parts are a possibility, particularly if they open up their line to encompass trucks and SUV's (Saleen once briefly did an Explorer - perhaps one of the rarest of the Saleens - I've never personally seen one).
Nice link, Saleen Owner! I had not heard or seen these before.
Good for Saleen - if they do a good job, quickly, they have a good shot at stealing a march on Ford, who of course has lost all momentum on the late and lamented Lightnings and supercharged Harleys. Rousch, of course, has his own versions coming - though they don't have the look that these Saleen jobs do.
Having seen these, it might be very interesting to see what Saleen could do with a new Chevy truck (SRT pretty well has it covered with their V10 SRT-10 viper trucks).
I think Saleen may find that its easier to sell high dollar pickups than Mustangs.
__________________
tripleblack
"You can never be free until you let yourself go."
Sorry 74stang2togo, but I think you're right - if they line up with Dodge, they will focus on the Hemi line - I doubt you'll see any motor parts for your 4.7. Suspension parts are a possibility, particularly if they open up their line to encompass trucks and SUV's (Saleen once briefly did an Explorer - perhaps one of the rarest of the Saleens - I've never personally seen one).
I know, it'd be a shame too, the 4.7 is a stout little motor with a whopping two problems from the factory, the OE Champion plugs don't work to well with it for some reason (rough idle, switching to NGKs seems to be the consensus among 4.7 owners.) and it's got the Hemi to live in the shadow of!
Mopar Performance already has it covered to an extent, with HO cams and intake, and there are throttle bodies, catbacks, and other parts out there to bring them to their full potential.
Saleen leaving Ford for Mopar... might not be so bad... worked great for Shelby, I seriously want to find one of the 1989 Dodge Shelby Dakotas with the 318 (I rode in one once, badass little truck!!!)... Can you imagine a Hemi Saleen Dakota? Ford wouldn't be able to re-group SVT for a Lighting redux quickly enough.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
Saleen Jumps to Chevy? 
