Saleen

The Saleen brand was established in 1983 originally as "Saleen Autosport" by Steve Saleen, a former professional Formula Atlantic race-car driver. The first Saleens were produced in 1984 when they built three cars as the first production run – a white hatchback, a copper-glow hatchback, and a black hatchback.

A 1989 Saleen Mustang

In 1985, Steve Saleen put the first certified supercharger on a production Saleen Mustang. This car was delivered to Nault Ford in Manchester, New Hampshire, and was the first use of a centrifugal supercharger on a late-model Mustang.[7]

In 1986, the Saleen made its entry into the Sport Car Club of America race series with a race-prepared version of the Saleen Mustang.[8] A notable win that year at the 24 Hours of Mosport was the catalyst for Saleen vehicles becoming heavily involved in motorsport throughout the rest of the 1980s.

By 1990, in response to increased aftermarket parts demand, Saleen established Saleen Performance Parts as an independent operation.

In 1994, Saleen debuted the S351, which had a Saleen-built 351 cubic-inch engine.[9] Despite the Mustang GT changing to the modular V8 in 1996, Saleen continued with development of their own EPA-certified 351W engine.[10]

In 1995, Steve Saleen teamed up with comedian Tim Allen and formed the Saleen-Allen "RRR" Speedlab race team.

In 1997, Saleen introduced a Saleen Contour concept and an SUV, the Saleen XP8 Explorer.

In the late 1990s, the company was restructured and became "Saleen, Inc."

In 2000, Saleen introduced its flagship vehicle, the Saleen S7 sports car. The S7 is a mid-engine, high-performance sports car that was initially priced at just under US$400,000. The S7 won four different GT championships in 2001 and has broken records at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The S7 was Saleen's only production car not based on an existing design or chassis.

In 2001, Saleen moved its production facilities to a new 100,000-square-foot facility in Irvine, California.[11]

In 2002, Saleen was awarded the assembly and paint contract for the new Ford sports car, the Ford GT. This effectively made Saleen a tier-1 supplier to the Ford Motor Company.[12]

In 2003, Saleen set up a special manufacturing and licensing agreement for distribution of Saleen vehicles in Canada.[13]

In 2004, Saleen expanded its operations and manufacturing to an additional 203,000-square-foot facility in Troy, Michigan. The new $15 million production facility included a high-tech paint facility and assembly line where Saleen produced the Ford GT under contract from Ford Motor Company.[14]

In 2005, global distribution was expanded to include Japan under a new partnership with a Tokyo-based importer.[15]

In 2006, Saleen opened its first own-branded retail store in an outdoor shopping center, in Irvine. The showroom was described as a unique shopping experience for Saleen vehicles, parts, and apparel.[16]

In 2007, Saleen began working with Chrysler and supplied all the paint work for the new Dodge Viper.[17]

In 2010, 2011 Saleen Mustangs were made in Detroit by Revstone, the company that purchased and legally produced 42 Saleens those years. Steve Saleen was selling Mustangs under the SMS name, as he did not legally own the name Saleen. At the end of 2011, an agreement was reached between Ford, Revstone, and Steve Saleen to let him start producing under the Saleen name again.

In 2013, Saleen entered into a merger that resulted in Saleen being a publicly traded company.[1] Later that year, the Saleen operations, manufacturing, research and development, and paint facilities were announced to be consolidated to an expansive four-acre campus in Southern California.[18]

In 2014, Saleen entered into an agreement to expand vehicle distribution to include China.[19] In August 2014, Saleen unveiled an all-electric performance model, the Foursixteen (a tuned version of Tesla Model S).[20]

In 2019, the Chinese joint venture presented an updated version of the Saleen S7 (called the S7 Le Mans), at an event which featured Jason Statham and Chris Wu. In addition to their American hypercar, Jiangsu Secco Automobile Technology Corporation also promoted a few Rugao-built vehicles,[21] including their electric microcar called the "MaiMai" and a crossover called the "MAC".[22][23][24][25]

In 2017, along with partner Charles Wang, Saleen formed a partnership with the city of Rugao to form a company named "Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Technology" in the city of Rugao.[3] The company was to produce and distribute Saleen vehicles in China for the Chinese market.[4] The company's only mass-produced model, the Maimai, had a maximum speed of 100 km/h and a new European driving cycle range of 305 km, was introduced in 2019, but only 27 had sold as of April 2021.[5] In May 2020, the former legal manager at Saleen, Qiao Yudong, revealed that the chairman of the company, Wang Xiaolin, had made false claims about technology investment and embezzled a significant amount of state capital by inflating the costs of so-called "car-making technologies". Wang then absconded to the United States.[5] As a result, the local Court closed down two local factories of Saleen Auto, froze the equity of four companies held by Wang, and shuttered Saleen Auto's Shanghai branch.[6]

These are special vehicles made by Saleen, that were either nonproduction models, concept vehicles, or nonserialized versions.

The aftermarket parts department of the company markets car parts and accessories such as custom wheels, exhaust systems, brakes, and other high-performance parts.

• Superchargers
  • Series I – This was the first supercharger system created by Saleen. It was engineered with an Eaton Roots-type supercharger in 1998.[29]
  • Series II – Launched in 2001, the Series II supercharger was a newer generation Eaton M90 Roots-type.[30]
  • Series III – This was a larger version of the Eaton supercharger. Going from 90 ci of displacement to 112 ci.
  • Series IV – The Series IV switched from a Roots-type supercharger to a twin-screw-type. This version had 1.6 L of displacement.
  • Series V – This marked the first forced-induction system developed entirely in-house by Saleen and designed around Lysholm-sourced compressor screws with 2.3 L of displacement.[31]
  • Series VI – This was very similar to the Series V supercharger with added boost pressure producing more horsepower. This supercharger system was available in versions for the 2005–2009 Ford Mustang, the 2004–2008 Ford F-150 5.4 L truck, Ford Expedition, Lincoln Mark LT, and Lincoln Navigator.
  • Saleen Shakercharger – A ram-air intake system for the Ford Mustang, it incorporated the Saleen Series VI supercharger with a functional hood scoop system borrowing its appearance from the S302PJ. This product was the result of design collaboration among Saleen's engineering interns in 2007 and 2008.
• iPod adapter – a factory-installed option, it was available across all of Saleen's products line that provides for an integrated iPod connection to the radio head unit. Saleen also offered this option as an aftermarket-installed product through their Speedlabs division.
• 2005–2009 Mustang HID headlamps – OEM, DOT approved bi-xenon headlamps offered by Saleen that fit 2005–2009 Mustangs. As of early 2007, these were the only OEM-grade, street-legal HID headlamps available for the Ford Mustang.
• Saleen Mustang Scenic Roof[32] – Available across Saleen's Mustang-based products, this comprises a glass full-roof panel that replaces the traditional Mustang coupe roof in lieu of a sunroof option. The scenic roof was manufactured from tempered laminate glass and fully certified according to U.S. NHTSA standards.
  • Frost Touch Scenic Roof – This is a version of the scenic roof that contains Smart glass, which has the ability to change from clear to opaque by flipping a switch.
• Watt's Link – developed in 2007, Saleen designed a version of the popular Watt's link for 2005–2009 Ford Mustangs.

During the development of the Saleen SR in 1995, Saleen formed a strategic partnership with BASF that resulted in the development of unique paint color formulations coupled with advertising centered around Saleen products. During this time, the Saleen paint color "Mystic" was formulated to give the color a chameleon-like effect.[33] Shortly after, an updated color called "Rainbow" was released as an evolved version of the "Mystic" color which gave a more chameleon-like effect by displaying more color changes.

Since this time, the Saleen paint color Liztick Red Metallic, named for Steve's wife, Liz, was developed along with 12 more colors, including two named for Steve's daughter, Molly Saleen, Mollypop Pink and Chrome Molly. Other Saleen-exclusive colors include Plum Insane Metallic, Burnout Black Pearl, Tire Smoke White Pearl, Sour Apple Green Metallic, Orange County Orange Metallic, Maliblue Metallic, Speedlab Yellow, Shark Skin Metallic, Beryllium Copper Metallic, and California Sunset Metallic.

In 2014, Saleen signed an agreement that made BASF the exclusive paint supplier for Saleen.[34]