[Miez]

What executives at Ford Motor Company would probably like most this holiday season is a slow news week.

Given the magnitude of the rebuilding program now underway at the company, a steady stream of news originating from the Dearborn-based automaker is to be expected. But a recent flurry of reports have been less than cheerful. The news items include the closing of a high-profile design studio; a pullback in the availability of the SVT high-performance models favored by enthusiasts; and disagreements with the federal government over whether an engine-stalling problem in its Focus compact constitutes a safety problem.
Yet in the face of all this, Ford's chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., remains confident about a turnaround in the automaker's fortunes.

From NYT - Drive Times

:evil: Ford Tough :evil:

 

[Zalec]

i come from a Ford family.

 

[mccurdti]

Hahahh.. a "pullback in SVT availability"... a.k.a. they're disbanding SVT for the entire year of 2005, due to Bill Ford dumping all of the funds into the GT. They're hoping that the new Lightning and Cobra bodies will generate enough sales, but they won't be ready until 2006, and forget about the SVT focus for '05 as well.

 

[bzcat]

Don't worry too much about SVT Focus being gone. Ford is going to make available Focus ST in 2005... It will have 160 hp version of 2.3 Duratec from Mazda6 (vs 145 in Focus right now and vs 170 in SVT). The lost of 10 hp will be made up with more torque. The ST will be disguinshed from regular ZX3 with SVT suspension. The only thing missing will be the 6 speed gearbox which didn't add too much to the SVT package anyway.