I wonder what is causing this. Could Ford be hurting that bad financially? Read on... though it does get better... there is some bright spots...
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Ford to drop SVT Focus, suspend performance lineup
By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News
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DEARBORN -- Ford Motor Co. is killing its high performance SVT Focus coupe next year and suspending production of the entire Special Vehicle Team lineup for the 2005 model year, the company said Friday.
"It will hurt us," said Dean Sellers, general manager of Dean Sellers Ford in Troy. "But it won't be devastating."
Ford's next scheduled model year for SVT products will be 2006. But its lineup - the Mustang Cobra and F-150 Lightning - will be based on new platforms and offer increased levels of performance.
NoOp Comment: Okay, this is good.
John Coletti, SVT's chief engineer, said the 2006 Lightning will be powered by an engine similar to the one featured in the 500-horsepower Ford GT, which debuts next year.
NoOp Comment: Brent, you were correct. The GT's motor will go in the Lightning.
Other possibilities include supercharged versions of the Mercury Marauder and Lincoln Navigator, a Mustang with a V-10 and a turbocharged Focus.
NoOp Comment: Holy shit!! Maybe a supercharger 5.4 from the new Ford GT? Now that would be cool in a Merauder!! Hell, even the Cobra's
4.6 would be bad-ass! And get a load of that!! A V10 Mustang!! Wouldn't that be the shit!! A turbo-chargered Focus would be pretty damn cool too! For SVT to stop producing for one... yeah, I could wait for this stuff!In 2005, Ford plans to introduce the Focus ST, which stands for street tuned. It offers slightly less horsepower than the SVT Focus -- 155 compared with 170. But it will have more torque and likely cost less.
NoOp Comment: Hopefully, with a motor with slightly more displacement. Then when they add a turbo to it a year later....
Angelo Giordimaina, general sales manager of McLaughlin Ford in Royal Oak, said lease and insurance rates on the SVT Focus were alienating some buyers.
NoOp Comment: Damn insurance companies!
Since its introduction as a 2002 model, about 4,500 units a year have been sold. Tom Scarpello, SVT marketing and sales manager, hinted Ford expected more.
"Did it meet all its objectives? No," Scarpello said. "But the majority of them."
Since the first Cobra debuted in 1993, Ford has sold more than 135,000 SVT products.
Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD