In the early 2000s we attended a golden era for supercars. It seemed that the turn of the century had served to reinforce the desire of manufacturers to improve themselves and the war to make the car faster was on. At that time some outstanding examples were released such as the Bugatti Veyron, the Ferrari Enzo, the Mercedes-McLaren SLR, the Porsche Carrera GT, the Lamborghini Murciélago, the Koenigsegg CCXR or the exotic Gumpert Apollo. However, there was one small mark that surprised everyone: Saleen.
The origin of this firm dates back to 1983, when Steve Saleen He wanted to turn his adventures with different vehicles into a professional career. This former Formula Atlantic driver was still an amateur with a lot of experience in preparing cars for competition and was making his first creations. As a good American, Mustang was his fetish modeland did not hesitate to provide it with extra power thanks to supercharging. The Saleen Mustang would be one of his first successful creations.
The first years consisted of various successful preparations, which gave him a certain renown. In 1990 he launched Saleen Performance Parts, with a catalog of components that could improve production models. It would continue with Ford derivatives mainly, with creations of the 5.7-liter S351 engine, but also launching preparations for more mundane examples such as the Focus. However, Steve Saleen’s ambition led him not to settle for improving other vehicles, he wanted to make his own.
In 2000 he presented the Saleen S7a self-developed mid-engine supercar that changed the rules of the game. Suddenly, the brand was on the international radar and the model was playing in the biggest league. It was a spectacular coupe that had a series of technical innovations that allowed it to have brutal performance. On a light steel chassis sat a carbon fiber body with a very period design. Its lines, which were reminiscent of the McLaren F1, and the butterfly doors dazzled the public.
It had a 7.0 liter V8 engine which was a derivative of Ford’s Windsor, although with greater displacement and power than the block from which it started. From the beginning it showed itself very capable by achieving a power of 557 HP and 710 Nm of torque. Always with a six-speed manual gearbox, it accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds and had a maximum speed of 320 km/h. For those that were not enough, in 2005 they launched the Twin Turbo version.
They added two Garrett turbochargers to the mechanics of the Saleen S7 so that the power increased up to 760 HP and 949 Nm of torque. With some improvements to its body to increase the aerodynamic load by 60%, this model achieved an acceleration of 0 to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds and announced a maximum speed (unverified) of 399 km/h. It was a declaration of intent thanks to those numbers and it also allowed them to enter the competition.
Between 2000 and 2007 they participated in several championships such as the FIA GT or the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Saleen S7-R. It adjusted to the needs of the competition and even achieved good results, taking into account that they were very recently created cars. While they were on this journey, the company also obtained a assembly and painting contract for the Ford GT of the time, becoming the official supplier of the oval brand. As time went by, they came to produce them themselves and would also do the painting work on the Dodge Viper.
However, the 2010s were very hard for Saleen. His successes were partly linked to those of others because of those jobs that he had outsourced and sales of supercars were going down. They looked for other partners and even reached an agreement to distribute vehicles to China. At that time they created some peculiarity like the Foursixteenwhich was a prepared Tesla Model S. They were heavily in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, something that led to their securities registration in the United States being withdrawn.
In 2017 a new journey would begin with the creation of Jiangsu Saleen thanks to the collaboration with Rugao, a Chinese company. Things did not go entirely well, despite receiving capital from the government and announcing several models, the only one that would reach production would be an electric microcar. It turns out that Charlie Wang, one of the partners in Saleen’s Chinese venture, had embezzled millions of dollars and in 2020 the company’s assets were confiscated and two factories closed.
The company had to leave the stage in China behind and returned to its origins: preparations. They currently have models such as the Saleen 302 (based on Mustang), the Sportruck (based on F-150) or the Saleen Bronco. They also have the Saleen S1 announced, another self-developed sports car that has not finished taking off. It is also working on other avenues such as hydrogen combustion engines for the competition of the future. However, it seems that They will never regain their splendor of the 2000s nor the shine of the Saleen S7.
