Coletti is a retired man

[Silver_04]

Hopefully this isn't a repost. Linky (http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0412/12/D01-30684.htm)

I don't like the sound of this.

[MI2QWK4U]

I like this quote....
"A lot of us are making some reasonably good money because niche products are selling," said Dan Knott, director of Chrysler's SRT group.

I wonder if Ford ever reads the paper, might be interesting to know what your compitition is thinking and doing! MMMMm wasn't the Marauder a Niche product?!

[TripleTransAm]

"We absolutely have to be a leader ... in performance vehicles. It's part of our DNA. But we have to do it in a broader range than just the traditional SVT product programs," Martens said. "There's a broad opportunity for four-wheel-drive, high-performance, (four-cylinder), turbo-type of programs."

[TripleTransAm]

I wonder if Ford ever reads the paper, might be interesting to know what your compitition is thinking and doing! MMMMm wasn't the Marauder a Niche product?!

Precisely what I was thinking... if the Marauder had been born in the hands of SVT, we'd have had a real monster on our hands. Unless SVT took a look at it first and ended up saying "there's nothing we can do for it" (with all the bean-counter restrictions and the roadblock of getting a weak-bottomed 4.6 to perform and still meet EPA regs), that is.

[RF Overlord]

Far more ominous:

"Coletti...was instrumental in reviving the Mustang in the early 1990s after then-Ford Chairman Alex Trotman considered killing the nameplate or turning it into a front-drive Mazda derivative."

It's exactly this kind of thinking that is going to land Ford at the back of the pack when it comes to high performance vehicles... :rolleyes: Morons...

Remember what happened when Pontiac took some Renault *****box and put the LeMans nameplate on it? :eek: :awe: :razz:

[TripleTransAm]

Remember what happened when Pontiac took some Renault *****box and put the LeMans nameplate on it? :eek: :awe: :razz:


That would be an Opel, RF... don't make the LeMans to be a worse car than it already was! ;)

But one line I COMPLETELY missed initially, but I feel has great relevance when taken in combination with all our quotes in this thread :
----
Ford also has disbanded its Ford Performance Group, which was launched in 2002 to develop performance vehicles for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles.
----

[Bigdogjim]

STV hit the streets running!

Now it's put on the back burner? (STV program)

You can not take a "2" year break and think/hope your customers will wait.

[RF Overlord]

That would be an Opel, RF... don't make the LeMans to be a worse car than it already was! ;)

A little more research shows the ersatz LeMans was actually an Opel-designed Daewoo (!!!!!)...maybe I'm confusing it with the Renault Le Car, another highly underwhelming vehicle...

[QWK SVT]

My thoughts on Coletti leaving can be summed up, in one word - Boo!!! I think this may foreshadow more upset feelings, as bean counters take a firm grip of the steering wheel (even moreso than now).


With SVT in for a prolonged pit stop, the competition is expanding their high-performance offering.
The Street and Racing Technology, or SRT, division of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group is launching its eighth product in February with the debut of the Chrysler 300 SRT-8.
And General Motors Corp. is rolling out a pair of Saturn vehicles under its Red Line brand, while Cadillac and Chevrolet plan to market more high-performance models.
While SVT engineers work on the next Mustang Cobra, Ford could miss out on potential profits.
Typical Ford, always doing things, at the wrong time. The market seems to be jumping at anything RWD, with big HP numbers. What does Ford do? Drop their entry in that fight:rolleyes:

In fact, I don't really see anything new on the FoMoCo lots that would even begin to entice me (well, maybe the Mustang, if I could fit). I'm glad I'm not in the market for new wheels - I'd have to settle for something I didn't really want, because it was close to something, that was similar to being almost like what I was actually looking for...

[Joe Walsh]

Sorry to hear about Coletti's retirement.....He was a true 'Car GUY'.
Who else would put a Lightning Engine in an Expedition as a test vehicle?
Or better yet,... stuff a 600+ cubic inch Boss 429 engine in a mid 90s Mustang?
It would be tough to retire from a fun job like that....but maybe he sees 'the handwriting on the wall' with all of Ford's bean counters taking over.