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Saleen Cars Are Back, But Not as Saleens

Stephen Mark Saleen, the legend behind almost every tuned Mustang and other Ford products in the last 25 years is back in business. After quitting from the helm of the company he founded and ran for over two decades, Saleen announced the formation of the SMS Limited Lifestyle Performance Automobiles company, with the SMS coming from his own initials.

Their first product being a tuned Mustang, everybody thought the new tuning company will continue to tinker with just about every US Ford product. Contrary to almost everyone's opinion, the first model to sport the new SMS logo will be a Dodge Challenger. Based on the regular production vehicle from Chrysler LLC, the SMS 570 Challenger and SMS 570X Challenger will be stand-alone models.

Each will benefit from performance oriented suspension, better brakes and aerodynamic packages. All of this to keep the power going to the road because, we forgot to mention this, the SMS 570 has 500 hp and the 570 X no less than 700 hp. Both power upgrades are possible thanks to newly developed supercharger kits.

Production of the two models will start this month, followed in Spring by a regular addition to the Saleen stable, a Mustang which will be called SMS 460. The Stang will feature an SMS patented Red Butterfly Induction hood hugging a supercharged 4.6 liter V8 engine. Later in 2009, Steve anticipates even adding an modified Camaro to the SMS line-up, thus having three tuned vehicles from three different companies.

Even though so far the new company has only around 30 employees, Saleen expects that number to rise close to 100 by the time the SMS Mustang will have to start being manufactured. The best part from all these news is the fact that every SMS vehicle can be ordered through either of the Dodge, Ford or Chevrolet dealerships in the USA.
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About the author: Alex Oagana
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Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project.
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