Hi everyone,

I really did not know where to post this. If it's in the wrong place, I appologize. Also, if this is old news, I appologize as well. Here it goes:

Just got my January edition of Car & Driver......here is an article from it:

Lightning strikes only twice:

Fans of the Ford SVT F-150 Lightning, the super-fast pickup truck modified by Ford's tuner arm SVT, will be disappointed to learn that the latest F-150 will not benefit from that magic.

Having previewed the Lightning concept at the Detroit show in 2003, our hopes were running quite high that the latest Lightning would get a Dodge Ram SRT-10-matching 500 horsepower from a detuned version of the Ford GT's 550-hp, 5.4-liter supercharged V-8. No such luck, as Ford and SVT decided the development costs were too much to bear.

With two products dead (the SVT Focus and the SVT Lightning), the Special Vehicle Team, currently on hiatus, will soldier on with only the upcoming 2006 Mustang Cobra.


This is not good news......if SVT is really on hiatus.....is that dangerous for the Cobra??!! Hope C&D is wrong!

 

Off topic, but the Lightning's demise doesn't signal the death of the Cobra. As long as cars run on gasoline, there'll always be a demand for that car IMO. There's a big difference between a Race Truck and a Race Car. As sweet as it was, it really doesn't make a whole lot more sense than having a Mustang with a super duty payload package.

 

I still think the Lightning will be back. The truck was far too popular to completely drop. This probably has something to do with Ford's financial position moreso than development costs. If you think about it, most of the engineering has already been done.

In addition, I also heard a big sticking point for this project was a trans that will be both financially sound and mechanically up for the 500hp challenge over the long haul.

 

I know that the Cobra is not dead. I just get nervous when I read things like that. I also begin to wonder if a post like this is true after C&D says that SVT is on a hiatus.

The '07 Cobra is already alive., Inside info from a reliable source HERE

I really hope it is true.......and I've read other mistakes C&D has made....so who knows.

 

All articles I have read including the one in Det today:

Det News

insist the L is only on hold until the Cobra is developed. I guess we'll see how well the SRT sells.

 

A lightning beat me like a rented mule when I was driving my 03 GT Vert.

Only saw the tail lights. Did not like them either.

 

If I had a dime for all the predictions that car magazines got wrong I'd be rich. Sometimes I look back at just 6 month old mags and read what they wrote about new products that have since been released and the magazines have all kinds of inaccuracies.
Don't believe the press.

 

SVT press release on future.

SVT

 

Here is the article from Automotive news talking about John C retirinf and the future of SVT. This is an industry publication and fairly reliable.
I think it has been pretty well established that SVT is not going away.
We've already been through that scare.




SVT leader will retire at year end


By Amy Wilson
Automotive News / December 13, 2004



John Coletti retires as Ford rethinks its special vehicle team.
Related stories




DETROIT -- The spirited leader of Ford Motor Co.'s special vehicle team is leaving as the SVT program gets new leadership and an expanded role.

After 11 years with SVT, director John Coletti, 55, will retire at year end.

His retirement follows the Dec. 1 departure of Ford product executive Chris Theodore, who backed Coletti. Ford also appointed a new SVT overseer, chief Mustang engineer Hau Thai-Tang, three weeks ago. Tom Scarpello, longtime SVT marketing and sales manager, moved to a new job at Jaguar in November.

The upheaval at SVT, combined with the absence of SVT products for the 2005 model year, has triggered questions about the future of Ford's performance group. But Ford product chief Phil Martens says SVT is here to stay.

"We've retooled SVT," Martens says. "We've appointed Hau, and we still think that's a growth part of our business."

Within the next four years, SVT will have more products than at any time, Martens says. The group's previous high was three, most recently in the 2004 model year.

The redesigned Mustang Cobra SVT is coming in 2006. A redesigned F-150 Lightning SVT pickup had been in the works, but the project was put on ice this year.

SVT will focus on "affordable performance," Martens says. Increased turbocharging and supercharging are part of the plan. Ford has considered developing an SVT version of the 2006 Ford Fusion mid-sized sedan.

Reviving Focus SVT?

Martens notes that product planners are taking another look at a Focus SVT. Ford discontinued the souped-up compact after the 2004 model year, saying the Focus wasn't upscale enough to sustain a performance version.

The door is open for other uses for the SVT program. Though SVT products always will retain a performance element, the group could develop more fuel-efficient engines that could migrate to larger mainstream vehicles, Martens says.

Ford will provide more detail on coming SVT products at the 2005 New York auto show in March.

Last hurrah

Coletti, Ford's master of going faster, says the SVT group is in good shape as he leaves.

"You have a cycle plan," Coletti says. "You will be putting some very special products on the street, and Ford is backing it."

In addition to the Mustang Cobra SVT, the group is working on a halo car to replace the high-performance Ford GT, the project Coletti considers his last hurrah after 33 years at Ford.

"How can you top this?" Coletti asks. "The GT, to me, is just the crowning achievement in my life."

Coletti, known for his enthusiastic personality, doesn't rule out working for another auto company eventually. But he says he'd have to be offered the chance to work on a car better than the GT.

He wouldn't provide details about the GT's successor. Production of the GT will end in 2006 due to new federal crash regulations that would require a reworking of the car. c

 

Kinda sad. Coletti was the guy that made the dream of a supercharged snake a reality!

 

i'm curious to know how much money ford really made off of lightning sales. of course it always does help to have a halo car making everybody want the regular truck that much more.
I didn't see much for ford to gain from building the new lightning except for bragging rights.

 

I'm curious about SVT's balance sheet in general. Did they turn a profit?

 

You knew something was up when they canned the SVT focus. The thing was so insanely fun and surprisingly popular, when they killed it that ws the foirst sign of bad stuff to happen.

In the last year or two SVT made a bid to become more than just an in-house tuner. They were responisble for the GT and the two Cobra concepts, and there seemed to be a push to make it a brand in of itself, pushing out concepts for more high-end monsters. But now they seem to be trending back toward just tuning again. In the interim the Focus was Canned, the Mustang is still a work in Progress, and the Lightning became a budget drag. When the SVT 'stang comes out, they'll be essentially back to square one.