This was posted on BON. Sad, if its true...


Finance, focus, and the fate of Ford's Special Vehicle Team
By Paul Lienert / Special to Autos Insider
Paul Lienert
Comment on this story
Send this story to a friend
Get Home Delivery
Just as General Motors and the Chrysler Group are ramping up their performance vehicle operations, I get the impression that Ford's own in-house performance group, the vaunted Special Vehicle Team, is in danger of losing its autonomy and focus.
Worse still, replacements for SVT's core products, the Mustang Cobra and the F-150 Lightning, are months behind schedule, leaving a potentially embarrassing gap in Ford's performance-vehicle lineup. Even if everything goes right, the next-generation Lightning probably won't reach dealerships until model year 2006, while the next-generation Cobra may not hit the street until model year 2007--a year later than planned for both products.
And the next-generation SVT Focus? May not even happen, according to the speculation among suppliers.
Chalk up some of the pain to Dearborn's continuing financial crunch. Even SVT's relatively modest $35 million annual budget is coming under the scrutiny of the corporate cost cutters. Why not absorb SVT into the larger Ford Performance Group--which makes truck bedliners, among other products--and let the regular engineering group take over development of the SVT vehicles? goes one internal argument.
Why not indeed?
I'm old enough to remember fiascos like the ill-planned and poorly executed Merkur strategy to give Lincoln-Mercury dealers a "performance import" brand. I also recall more than a few tepid attempts to create "performance niche products" over the past thirty years. Is it just a coincidence that the best and most effective of these models were done when Ford had strong product guys in positions of power--guys like Lee Iacocca and Bob Lutz?
Despite its recent hiccups, including chronic engine problems with the Cobra, SVT deserves credit over the past decade for developing some of the most solid go-fast street hardware in the company's 100-year history. I've driven everything in the current SVT lineup, and it's an impressive range, particularly the SVT Focus hatchbacks, which pack an astonishing amount of power and entertainment into an inexpensive package.
Ford previewed the next SVT Lightning in January at the Detroit show and hinted that it would trail the introduction of the new F-150 by about a year. In the flesh and on paper, it looks pretty terrific. Except that suppliers are now saying that development work has yet to begin in earnest, and the truck could be delayed until late 2004 or early 2005, if not longer.
The next Cobra is in more serious straits. We began hearing rumblings last December that Team Mustang was going through the S197--the DEW98-based replacement for the current Mustang that is scheduled to begin production in fall 2004. Suppliers say the Mustang product planners, in an effort to shave piece costs, began gutting the DEW chassis. The independent rear suspension was the first thing to go, replaced by a solid axle. Then the front end reverted to a strut-type setup. All of a sudden, this new "modern" Mustang was beginning to look an awful lot like the current car, which is based on the aging Fox platform that dates to the Seventies and the old Ford Fairmont.
Problem is, a stripped-down chassis like this is no platform for a Cobra in sophistication, handling capability, ride quality, or the ability to handle 400-plus horsepower. So SVT now faces the gargantuan--and expensive--task of re-engineering a new IRS for the next Cobra.
Likewise, a normally aspirated 5.0-liter version of the 4.6-liter "mod" V-8 that was planned for the new Cobra reportedly has fallen victim to the cost cutters and is likely to be replaced by a supercharged 4.6, which undoubtedly will be heavier and more complex, not to mention just as expensive as the 5.0.
Vendors tell me that very little development work has been done on a replacement for the SVT Focus, even though the successor to the regular Focus is due to reach the market late next year. So even if SVT does manage to find the budget, don't expect the next-generation model to commence production before 2006-07.
I can't help but wonder if SVT would have been better protected if its last patron, Neil Ressler, hadn't taken early retirement. Ressler is still working as a consultant to Ford but is no longer in a position to provide air cover for the good folks at SVT.
In more ways than one, his departure could prove to be not just Ford's loss, but GM's and Chrysler's very real gain.
You can reach Paul Lienert at plienert@globalauto.net.

 

Classic example of a species that eats it's young.

New Mustang a world class car... till beancounters were unleashed.

SVO a profitable & reputable sub-organization... till someone higher up figured it would be cheaper to combine them with another division & water it down.

Focus SVT. A good car that will compete with SRT-4s and GM's upcomming supercharged Ions & Cavaliers. Even this low cost vehicle "costs too much" to someone who likely know more about debits & credits than cars & marketing.

5.0 version of the 4.6? Even this engine, barely more costly than the 5.7 LS1 is over the 5.3 V8 at GM is "too much".

In light of the upcomming things in the pipeline from GM, it seems GM's financial managers have all been shipped to Ford!

 

"5.0 version of the 4.6? Even this engine, barely more costly than the 5.7 LS1 is over the 5.3 V8 at GM is "too much"."


Guion, I might of read this wrong, so take my following comment with a grain of salt...

I'll bet ya a dozen dougnuts that the 4.6 and 5.0 liter replacement from Ford are LOTS more expensive than an LS1. Lots more parts, bigger castings, heavier... etc... etc... etc...

 

Like I said, very sad if true...I was really hoping the 'stang could evolve into a high HP, refined, world-class balanced car... Something I was looking forward to maybe buying in the future....I was more than a little surprised to read back in Jan. that they were uning the live axle(!) but to use struts? what happened to short-long arms, or double wishbones??? It just completely contradicts what the original DEW98 is for, imo. And if they can't find a way to keep weight down or get an aluminium N/A 5.0 or 5.4 in there, i'm just not interested anymore...there's a differnce between trying to keep costs down and flat-out half-assing it.
But knowing SVT, they'll probably put the S/C DOHC aluminium 5.4 and multi-link IRS in the Lightning before they do it for the cobra. And I know the 4 valve mod motors have more moving parts and can be more expensive than OHV, but this is their flagship car!! Splurge a little...
And if the QC isn't better, this could have all the makings of an American tragedy.

 

Maybe I'm operating from a wrong assumption here, but it would seem that beyond either the increased bore or stroke or both, and related changes to the head volume and camshaft profile, there would be little change necessary to change the 4.6 just 24 or so cubic inches.

It's not like the massive changes Chevrolet once had to make to turn their small block into the 400 I would think.

 

K, now I get it...

You're right, shouldn't be a huge tear-up. But there could be hidden things I'm not taking into account:

New valves? New injectors? New intake? New engine management? Definitely new cams, pistons, rods, block.

 

Valves- NO.
Engine management-New burn
New cams-Just a change in profile not a big deal when you start with a blank..
Pistons-Really depends on where they get the cubes from.
Rods.-If they stroke it then yes.
Block-VERY debatable.The 5.0 is rumored to use the "explorer" block high vol= lowered costs.(it is aluminum)


Even with the glitches SVT has had,They do very well.IMHO Ford "MIGHT" make a new performance group.Which would bring cosworth into the mix....Time will tell.Im not holding this guys words with a gain of salt either.(from the link)I read this from BON as well.

 

hmm....I still can't figure out why they botherd with a 6spd for the Focus--seems to be way too much given the modest pwer output. Now theres an area they shoulda saved money

 

I would suspect it be because of a narrow power band. Maybe someone else can back this up or correct it!?!

Also don't you know how cool it is when someone asks you if its Auto or 5-speed. Then you say ha! if my car only had 5 gears it'd only be able to go 141!

 

Well just to reason that one out--if that were true wouldn't most 4cly have a 6spd? I think the Focus RS in Europe (which is a turbo)
only uses a 5speed. But I am guessing here.

Don't F-bodies reach top speed in 5th gear?
I always heard 6th is way too tall for that.

 

Yes it does use a MTX-75 5 speed.Like you said it is turbo (300hp to be exact) it was developed by SVE.A 5 speed makes sense in a 4cyl. turbo application.(For day to day driving that is)

 

You're right. Not enough power for 6th gear. I also think that it tops out due to redlining in 5th gear, but this may be incorrect.

 

I starting to suspect that SN197 has more in common with the current SN95 Mustang than the DEW 98 platform. This could explain why the production body shell images from a few months ago were so close the current Mustang in proportions and profile.

What really makes me sad, though, is the prospect of the current Cobra's iron block motor being built into seeming perpetuity. This supercharged lump has rotten fuel economy, and weighs more than a little too much. I would rather have seen the 5.0 CAMMER. I mean if I have to shift a Cobra myself, I'd rather enjoy some revs instead of just mindless great gobs of torque.

On the plus side, with the current SVT structure gone from the picture, maybe we can hope for a Mustang GT that actually delivers. When the Cobra comes back from hiatus, I hope that the limited production/special dealership crap disappears. I'd be willing to consider the top-end Mustang if it was sold at every Ford store, but I never would drive 100 miles just to chase one down.

 

Fifth gear runs out at 141 at 5100 and about 145/6 at 5600 I believe (didn't really watch the speedo that much but I know the 141 is right.) Anyways if you try to push the car to topspeed at the beginning of the redline it will only top out there but if you hold it for a bit, then shift later you can push these cars quite far. Trust me. Greentown Police Dept. in Indiana clocked me at 162 in a stock f-body. (Very very long story...I know completly dumb..but if you don't believe me look up The Kokomo Tribune and in an arctile on Dec. 27, 2001 entitled "Local Teen Leads Police on Holiday Chase". It will be on the front page just off to the right a bit.) Anyways I'm pretty sure that 162 is the very fastest you're going to make in a STOCK f-body, that took me a long, long time to reach and LOTS and LOTS of flat straight road without hardly any traffic. But don't go tryin this trust me its not worth it. Unless you'd rather blow around 3k on an atturny rather than a 383 stocker kit. . Later

 

This is copied and pasted from BON.From a VERY RESPECTED gentleman.
This guy knows more then some panzy fool from auto insider who didnt get laid the night before he typed it.



{quote}


That article read as pure FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) to me.

The Mustang Cobra and F150 Lightning are all but confirmed. This business about 2006 and 2007 is ridiculous. Expect them a year after the regular trim models debut at the latest. That means MY2005 for the Lightning and MY2006 for the Cobra. And that's at the latest. I personally expect a MY2005 Cobra. Even if it uses the blown 4.6L initially, it will be there.

Speaking of that motor, Colletti confirmed they are moving away from the Supercharged 4.6L. Something will replace it. Maybe not the 5.0L, but there will be something.

And what idiots are speculating about no SVT Focus? That's lunacy. Hell they have been testing turbo models in the US already. Are to believe this is all for the heck of it? We know Ford is developing both 2L and 2.3L Turbocharged Duratec HE's. Either could land in an SVT Focus.

As for SVT going away. No way in hell. They have recently been reorg'd as part of FPG, yes. But they still exist. And they do have their own engineering resources. The SVE name has gone away in favor of "SVT Engineering", which give strong brand unity.

Reporting like what this guy is dong makes me want to puke. Best to just ignore this ****.
--------------------

{end quote}