Production of Saleen Mustang to end this summer
Published: Monday, March 07, 2011
By JOSEPH SZCZESNY
For Journal Register Newspapers
Revstone Industries plans to drop production of the Saleen Performance Vehicles based on the Ford Mustang and focus on becoming a second-stage manufacturer of aftermarket performance parts.
Bob LaCourciere, president of Revstone Aftermarket, said the move will allow the company — which currently produces Saleen Performance Vehicles and Saleen Speedlab parts — “to leverage” its size and customer relationships to provide a wider range of high performance offerings to consumers.
“The teams responsible for engineering and development of Saleen bring a level of engineering prowess and passion that is second to none,” LaCourcie said
“We want to apply that same talent and dedication to second-stage manufacturing,” he said.
As part of this strategic shift, the 2011 Saleen S302, which is built at Saleen’s site in Troy, will be the last car produced under the Saleen name. The S302 vehicles are currently in production but production will be completed by the third quarter of this year, LaCourcie said.
“We feel it is time to retire the legend and to usher in a new era of performance,” LaCourciere said. “We will continue to honor our warranties on Saleen vehicles and Saleen parts will be available through Speedlab.”
Saleen Performance Vehicles has gone through at least four different reorganizations since it was sold by founder Steve Saleen in 2007.
Last autumn, Jack “Doc” Watson, creator of Hurst Performance Research vehicles, agreed to team up with Revstone Global Performance Vehicles to integrate the Saleen Performance Vehicles enterprise within GPV.
“At the same time the GPV team will ensure no Mustang is left behind as they continue to create Speedlab performance components for Mustangs of all types,” Watson said at the time.
Revstone Global Performance Vehicles is a research, development and full-service Tier 1 supplier to automotive OEMs and government agencies.
It was created through the merger and acquisition in recent years of specialty vehicle market organizations focused on the research, design, engineering and manufacturing of efficient and high-performance products.
Revstone Industries, LLC, GPV’s parent company, serves a wide range of military, car makers, top level suppliers and retail clients in the automotive and heavy trucking industries.
Based in Lexington, Ky., with revenues of $1 billion, Revstone also maintains a regional headquarters in Oakland County and has manufacturing centers in Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Germany and China.
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