If, like SHO, SVT merely morphs into something better, then blue-oval performance fans won't have anything to lament,
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| Does anyone in line for the Shelby Cobra GT500 car if the SVT badges are on the car? They'll care when it comes time to trade up. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
although, Shelby Cobra GT500 aside, most signs point to a less fortuitous exit. The automaker and its SVT division insiders say otherwise, mind you. Despite having only one model slated for production (OK, two models if you include both the hopped up Mustang coupe and convertible), not including the Ford GT mid-engine supercar which continues to be in very limited production and will officially get the cut in September of this year, despite only just arriving in Canada, the only additional SVT models announced have been cancelled.
With longtime SVT proponent Phil Martens having left Ford recently, hardly a comforting thought to those still reeling from SVT guru John Coletti's departure
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| Clearly, not all within Ford's executive team in Dearborn are sold on the "halo" division's usefulness to the automaker's recovery. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
a year and a half ago, the passionate and talented Hau Thai-Tang remains director of the Special Vehicle Team (as well as holding a position within the advance product creation team). Thai-Tang's leadership should be seen as a boon to all things SVT, but one person's vision and a single car (OK, two cars) doesn't a performance division make.
According to Ford spokesperson Jim Cain, mind you, there are "a number of SVT projects we're working to get off the ground" beyond the Shelby Cobra, although his admission that such projects aren't off the ground yet is a clear indication that not all within Ford's executive team in Dearborn are sold on the "halo" division's usefulness to the automaker's recovery, at least not until Ford is at least showing signs of a regular heartbeat.
The question that remains unanswered is this: why can't Ford develop a business case that will result in a high-performance version of a given model paying its own way, in
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| The 1998 Contour SVT makes a person wonder what an SVT Fusion might perform like. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
the same manner that Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep SRT vehicles are designed to be profitable from the get-go? Even if Ford could break even on such vehicles, wouldn't the associated hype among car enthusiasts and those they influence result in greater focus on the Ford brand, and therefore more sales of non-SVT products? Such is the general premise of any performance division, or at least this is how the idea gets sold to an automaker's bean-counters and more conservative execs.
As it seems, though, at least for the time being, executive vice president Mark Fields, who announced Ford's "Way Forward" plan, doesn't see it that way, nor for that matter does his boss Mr. Bill Ford himself. The Way Forward looks
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| Can Ford keep up with competitors' skunk works tuning divisions if SVT gets folded? (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
to be devoid of the SVT nameplate, a acronym that has paid tribute to the automaker's gloried muscle car, storied pickup truck, lauded sport sedan, and notorious rally and sport car heritage since its inception in 1992.
Yet despite a fourteen year reign, SVT doesn't stand much chance of lasting past this month according to reports that the division is closing shop on April 1st. Already SVT no longer has a dedicated marketing department or any public relations staffers. It doesn't have its own engineering team, a press fleet or even an events trailer - all attributes the brand within a brand once called its own. Even the SVT Owners Association will soon meld into Ford Racing Technology and become a club for all Ford performance vehicles. Also, editorial content from the SVTOA bi-monthly publication,
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| Good looking, nimble, and with 425-hp to boot. Serious fun... Ford could use a SVT Fusion to compete with Chrysler's 300C SRT8. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
dubbed SVT Enthusiast, will now appear in Ford Racing's Inside the Oval monthly magazine.
What hurts even more, at least to SVT enthusiasts, is that the dealer network, reportedly hand-picked from Ford's top-selling dealers is now frustrated, plus the word on the street is that some retailers are even talking about a class-action lawsuit. And to make matters worse, at least for these dealers who have invested heavily in the SVT vision and stuck with it through thin and thinner, will now have to share the fruits of their labours, the new Shelby Cobra GT500, with every other Ford dealership in the U.S. and Canada.
In the end, if this is indeed the end of Ford's once proud SVT division, what went wrong? There are too many possibilities, many of which have been mentioned already. But it seems that SVT's downfall coincides with the development
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| Ford faithful would love it if the automaker created an all-new Lightning. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
and production of the GT supercar. According to insiders, the GT took up all of the SVT team's resources, and, being seen as critical to Ford's 100th birthday celebrations, little to nothing was left over for tuning more mainstream cars and trucks. With only Thai-Tang left to fight for the sinking performance division, his concerns no doubt being pushed off the desks of top-tier executives and into their circular filing cabinets, too busy solving larger problems to worry about a non-profit sporting arm, it has withered to the point of extinction.
But does it matter? Really, does it matter if the new Shelby Cobra GT500 wears an SVT badge or simply a blue oval, as it will still be as fast, still be as desirable, and still see Ford dealers selling as many as can be built. After all, isn't SVT, other acronyms just like it, merely marketing exercises anyway? That will have to wait for another debate, and without doubt DaimlerChrysler and its SRT division would have something to say in its defense.
Marketing aside, Ford has come to the table, or more precisely the street and track, with one of the most exciting new performance cars in years. Hopefully, SVT or not, more performance models will follow suit.
