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No More SVT?????

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In case you haven't heard.


Here's the latest info from Steven Cole Smith on the death of SVT, as printed in today's Orlando Sentinel:

Ford doesn't see a way forward for SVT

Posted March 2, 2006

" Quietly, Ford Motor Co. has been dismantling SVT -- the Special Vehicle Team -- and sources inside the company suggest that as of April 1, SVT, as we've known it since 1992, will cease to exist.

SVT has had no dedicated products since 2004. A high-performance version of the Sport Trac, called the Adrenalin, was shown at the New York Auto Show in March 2005. At a preview for journalists, SVT director Hau Thai-Tang said that the Adrenalin "is going to turn the performance-vehicle market upside down" when it goes on sale as a 2007 model. Then, last month, the Adrenalin was canceled as part of Ford's "Way Forward" restructuring campaign. The Ford GT supercar, which was developed largely by SVT engineers but was not called an SVT model, will end production later this year.

A new Shelby Cobra GT 500 Mustang is due later this year as a 2007 model. But it will be offered to all 3,900 Ford dealers, instead of SVT's network of roughly 600 dealers.

SVT was founded in 1991 by Robert Rewey, Ford's vice president for marketing and sales, and Neil Ressler, Ford's chief technical officer. The idea was that SVT would consist of a small group of engineers, designers and marketing professionals who would work inside Ford to build and sell high-performance versions of existing products. SVT also set up a separate dealer network, signing up Ford dealers that had an interest in selling performance products.

In 1992, the first two SVT products were launched: The 1993 F-150 Lightning pickup, and the 1993 Mustang Cobra. In 1997, the SVT Contour was introduced, and in 1999, the second-generation Lightning went on sale. In late 2001, the '02 SVT Focus went on sale. By 2004, when production of the Lightning, Mustang Cobra and SVT Focus ended, the company had sold about 145,000 SVT products.

It's likely that Ford will continue to produce special-edition models of several vehicles, but they will not be sold through SVT channels."
 



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i saw something about this over on corral, its GARBAGE!! :fire: svt has made some of the most popular cars ford has produced. i mean, look at the following for cobras and lightnings!
 






welcome to the lessen of global market appeal, and economes of scale. "Timeza" changin now. when outsourcing, job cuts, plant closures etc dont cut it, you start trimming baggage. Even though it had a contribution cost it still wasnt doing it for ford. It doesnt bother me, i just dont want to see them go into bankruptcy, however fords future, financial that is, is oddly enough linked with GM';s current situation. Gm goes bankrupt, then ford has to slash prices. i could go on but it gets boring.
 






That's a shame. Soon all we're going to have are hybrids and no more muscle/fast cars

-Drew
 






Too bad. I loved my SVT Contour. Only sold it because I was beating it up too bad on backcountry roads (to get to mountainbike trails). What a wolf in sheep's clothing that car was.
 






What I DON'T understand though is why is Ford slashing these so-called "unpopular" SVT's, when DCX is doing so well with the SRT models.
I just don't get it. :(
WAKE UP FORD!!!!!!!!!!!
 






Sad day to be a Ford man :mad:

SVT cars were popular, among men. If you look at most new car marketing, it is aimed at women. I took a marketing class a couple of semesters ago and we did a case study into this and it is true. The Ford and GM have found that in the current market, women have about 55-70% of the purchacing decision in most 2 income households when it comes to car purchases. Therefore Fomoco and GM have been heavily marketing the products and features that appeal to women age 30ish to 45ish (soccer moms), namely; convenience, price, safety and dependability. This is mostly due to the fact that women are starting to match and in many cases even surpass the "man of the house" in income.

Dodge seems to be taking a different approach, after seeing most of their recent commercials (other than the ones for the Caravan.) Dodge wasn't included in our case study though.

In the same class, we looked at the electronics market and found that it was the exact opposite. Men in a two person household make about 85% of the decisions when it comes to household electronics. It was an interesting class, but disturbing....

Gentlemen, it seems as though we've lost our pull in society :rolleyes:
 






We've lost??? our pull!

Well, I don't know what planet you've been living on, but here on earth the reality has been for many years now, that women have ruled the roost. The main difference is that in recent years, the feminist movement has openly declared it. Prior to that, women were willing to LET us THINK we were in charge. We weren't really. As long as they have and control what we really want, they will be in charge, and I don't seing that changing anytime soon. :( Corporate marketing has finally recognized that!
 






someone said sumthin about us all driving hybrids, and not fast muscle cars n such. i guess lexus or someone is coming out with a 400hp hybrid(probly consumes as much fuel as a 300 hp vehicle, but hey! you get an extra 100hp without paying for the gas)

but its sad that the specialty vehicle market is going out. This pretty much ends all hopes of Ford making an offroad worthy vehicle from the factory.
 






Ford has always catered to women. Why do you think that the Explorer and Mustang were such runaway successes?
 






I wonder if they're going to be keeping specialty teams like FPV around?? I guess Ford global's a different monster though...

By the way, 1000th POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a true member now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sad to do this in Industry News, no one really looks here! haha ;)
 






Marketing to women

Well, that explains what happened to the Explorer. My 92 looks like a truck. It rides like a truck. It has a real 5-speed stick synchromesh gearbox.

Now the current gen Explorer is all cushy, luxury and bling, and no stick available, even on order.

Can't even get a stick in the Escape, except for the base model.

Perhaps somewhere, maybe deep in the Australian outback there are women and men who still appreciate the joys of direct gear drive and not the juicebox tranny!


Bob
 






Bwana Bob said:
Well, that explains what happened to the Explorer. My 92 looks like a truck. It rides like a truck. It has a real 5-speed stick synchromesh gearbox.

Now the current gen Explorer is all cushy, luxury and bling, and no stick available, even on order.

Can't even get a stick in the Escape, except for the base model.

Perhaps somewhere, maybe deep in the Australian outback there are women and men who still appreciate the joys of direct gear drive and not the juicebox tranny!


Bob

Well Bob, not everyone knows how to drive a vehicle with manual transmission. I learned on an auto transmission and even though my brother tried teaching me on his Explorer to drive a stick, I couldn't get the hang of it. He says he should have gotten to me when I first learned to drive. I used to drive a vehicle with an auto transmission with two feet!!
 






SoBeLover said:


Well Bob, not everyone knows how to drive a vehicle with manual transmission.

So we should suffer because of the "manually challenged"? :confused:
 






Eco Moms vs. Nascar Dads
May 26, 2005 08:21 AM - Kara, Newport, Rhode Island

Listen up Moms! Now normally TreeHugger doesn’t get into discussions about activism unless of course it’s posted in our UnTreehugger category – take Cellboost for instance. Okay, we do have a Take Action one as well, but here's a successful organization we’d like to highlight and fully support. The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and their program called “Listen to Your Mother” is capturing women all over the country and world who are posting their pictures and letters for Bill Ford, Jr., president of Ford Motors, (aka: the biggest gas guzzler of automakers for the past five years) and are asking him to start producing zero-emissions vehicles. It is the goal of these women to help get the auto industry back on the eco-track. So Moms, help RAN in letting Ford know that mother does indeed know best and that we want to see a cleaner future for our little ones.


If found that by googling "bill ford tree hugger". Not what I expected to find, but interesting none the less. From what I have heard Bill Ford IS a tree hugger.
 






Bwana Bob said:
Well, that explains what happened to the Explorer. My 92 looks like a truck. It rides like a truck. It has a real 5-speed stick synchromesh gearbox.

Now the current gen Explorer is all cushy, luxury and bling, and no stick available, even on order...
Bob

I went from a '92 Sport 5 speed to a '01 XLS automatic and was disappointed. My '92 was a better vehicle and definitely more of a truck. We finally traded the '01 in on a '05 F-150. I just recently bought another Explorer (94 Sport) and I only considered Gen I Explorers because I feel they are better trucks than any other Explorers.
 






I just had to do a double take... You're selling the Mustang you just finished restoring?:confused:
 






Rick said:
I just had to do a double take... You're selling the Mustang you just finished restoring?:confused:

Uhhhh...NOPE!!!! I may be crazy, but I'm not insane!! :confused: Besides, my wife would kill me...it's her car.

I'm selling my Samurai. I just bought a '94 Explorer Sport that I'm building up for wheeling. Driving the sammy as a daily driver when I couldn't drive the Mach was getting tiring...it's definitely better as a trail only vehicle.
 






AHH!! That's very different ;)
 



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Rick said:
So we should suffer because of the "manually challenged"? :confused:

Did I say that? I personally believe you should have the option of manual or automatic if you choose when you buy a new truck. But, and I know you guys don't want to hear this but most Explorers are owned and bought for females, while trucks like the F150 and Ranger are primarily bought and owned by guys and the option for manual transmission is available.

If I didn't have an Explorer, I'd probably have an F150 or Ranger.....with automatic transmission :D
 






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