Industry News: Shelby Considering A New Halo Model, Expand To Other Ford Models

[William Maley]

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 18, 2012

Shelby has been synonymous with the Mustang since the late sixties with the GT350 and GT500. Since the two got back together in 2007 with GT500, Shelby has been reestablishing itself as the halo car producer for Ford. But Shelby is looking to expand.

Autoblog talked with Shelby president John Luft about what the future holds for the company. Luft said the company is looking at whether to branch out to other vehicles in the Ford stable.

"Our plans include everything from the Mustang to looking at future development of the EcoBoost motor. There could be a Focus or Fusion development in our future."

Luft also revealed that Shelby considering doing another halo sports car like the Series 1 in 1999.

"We always pose the 'what if'. If you remember when the Series 1 was developed, that was a purpose-built halo sports car for the Shelby brand. We always put those things in the plan because maybe down the road we would want to readdress a purpose-built Shelby sports car. It doesn't mean we'll build it, but we always want to challenge ourselves to put it on the table and talk about the practicality of it."

However, Luft said the conditions have to be right before Shelby decides to go forward.

"All the variables have to come into play – what's the economy like and what the industry is doing – but I've learned to never-say-never. It could very well be that we could collaborate with Ford and create a new one-off Shelby halo vehicle. Who knows? But we always add things like that into our product plans because it causes us to pause and look at things beyond the Mustang in the Ford lineup."

And if you're wondering what will happen with the Mustang, Luft says they have a product plan through 2020.

Source: Autoblog

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[David]

I think we will see Shelby pretty much ring out as much performance and extra dollars on other cars and trucks as they can before these versions are replaced by new ones.

Imagen a Shelby Fusion on the new body style!