Ford: SVT’s health is not in question
As reported last week, GM is disbanding its High Performance Vehicle Operations. GM said that it will shift all of its focus on mainstream products and that all high-performance projects are on an indefinite hold. A GM spokesman was heavily quoted using Ford’s Special Vehicle Team as an example for the move by the Detroit automaker.
“Ford SVT did the same thing a few years ago and they are back,” a GM spokesman said hinting that HPVO may be revived when GM’s financial condition gets better.
It seems like Ford SVT took that as an insult. Spokesman Patrick Hespen dropped Inside Line an e-mail saying: “A GM rep has been quoted quite extensively regarding the HPVO situation, and has been telling media that SVT went away for a time. The information he’s been giving out about Ford’s SVT is not accurate. SVT was never on hiatus, or shutdown. SVT developed the 2005-06 Ford GT and the 07-09 Shelby GT500. Both of these vehicles were fully engineered by SVT. Granted, they were not specifically badged as SVT vehicles, but they were responsible for their development.”
The SVT brand left the market in 2004; however, the division has since been working on many high-performance Ford models. Hespen said that “SVT’S health is not in question” and that the team worked on the new 2010 Shelby GT500 and the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor which will hit dealerships later this year.
2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor:
Source: Inside Line
