Ford’s SVT Boss Will Run Brazil Operations
2/19/07, 11:57 AM
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It's true. Hau's been given the opportunity to get some operations experience by running the business unit Ford of South America.
Before you read any more into this, his successor at SVT has been named--Hermann Salenbauch, formerly of BMW. Hau says SVT is committed to producing a flagship car and truck, though he couldn't comment on the timeframe for the truck's debut.
Hau did say he will be back at Ford NA soon!
Before you read any more into this, his successor at SVT has been named--Hermann Salenbauch, formerly of BMW. Hau says SVT is committed to producing a flagship car and truck, though he couldn't comment on the timeframe for the truck's debut.
Hau did say he will be back at Ford NA soon!
2/19/07, 01:23 PM
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From my contact:
Mr. Salenbauch was recently Ford's Director of Advanced Product Creation. He had responsibilities for developing new product concepts for Ford North America. Prior to that he was Engineering Director in Ford's Lifestyle Car Cluster. In that role he led the core engineering activities that supported Focus, Mustang, Windstar, and Thunderbird.
He has been with Ford for approximately 6 years. He joined Ford from BMW where he was Chief Engineer at Land Rover which was owned by BMW at the time.
He is a very strong engineer. He worked for Hau over the past two years and is familiar with the SVT performance business. In addition, he led the core engineering (body, chassis, and electrical) on the Mustang program in a prior role and is a strong advocate for Mustang. They have a well laid out transition plan and he will build on the progress that SVT has made.
He has been with Ford for approximately 6 years. He joined Ford from BMW where he was Chief Engineer at Land Rover which was owned by BMW at the time.
He is a very strong engineer. He worked for Hau over the past two years and is familiar with the SVT performance business. In addition, he led the core engineering (body, chassis, and electrical) on the Mustang program in a prior role and is a strong advocate for Mustang. They have a well laid out transition plan and he will build on the progress that SVT has made.
2/19/07, 05:07 PM
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Well, hopefully this new fellow can bring some of the "M Division" philosophy to SVT! While M cars are expensive, they are impressive, you have to give them that. 
2/20/07, 09:50 AM
#17
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The problem I see with SVT is that they aren't nearly as visiable as other 'in-house' tuners. Dodge's SRT, BMW's M, Merc's AMG, etc etc... they all have vehicles based on (most) every model of car that their company makes.
At present SVT has one, and it is called Shelby which doesn't help their Name/Brand recognition. If there was a SVT Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred, ... etc etc. that would be good. Add to that SVT has had at most three vehicles with their name on it (Focus, Cobra/Mustang, F150/Lighting), and all of those got axed while SVT worked on the GT (which didn't Saleen make?).
I'm hoping SVT springs back to life with some additional vehicles, a SVT Fusion would be very nice and the return of the SVT Focus would be good as well. And that's enough from me.
At present SVT has one, and it is called Shelby which doesn't help their Name/Brand recognition. If there was a SVT Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred, ... etc etc. that would be good. Add to that SVT has had at most three vehicles with their name on it (Focus, Cobra/Mustang, F150/Lighting), and all of those got axed while SVT worked on the GT (which didn't Saleen make?).
I'm hoping SVT springs back to life with some additional vehicles, a SVT Fusion would be very nice and the return of the SVT Focus would be good as well. And that's enough from me.
2/20/07, 05:03 PM
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yeah, seriously. I hope they go beyond just the one car and one truck thing. An SVT Fusion would be sick and I'm sure showing adds on TV of an SVT Fusion tearing around the streets with a killer exhaust note would really catch attention and boost sales of the regular version. An SVT Edge could be cool too, that HySeries version looked real good with the two-tone paint and the centre fire exhaust, although its hard to imagine that car being too nimble.
So what I'm hoping is that sometime next year, like Detroit autoshow, we see an SVT Fusion available in the spring, plus they unveil the new F150 with an SVT version available as soon as the regular version (although I don't know how much steam is left in that whole perfomance pick-up thing...)
So what I'm hoping is that sometime next year, like Detroit autoshow, we see an SVT Fusion available in the spring, plus they unveil the new F150 with an SVT version available as soon as the regular version (although I don't know how much steam is left in that whole perfomance pick-up thing...)
2/21/07, 05:46 AM
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Look at it this way, you have to learn to walk before you can run. And if and when Ford is back walking on its own two feet once again, you can be certain running will be the next step.