Irvine's Saleen Is Gearing Up to Build Powerful Sport-Utility

By JOHN O’DELL

Oct. 24, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

IRVINE —

Tapping into the nation’s seemingly limitless appetite for sport-utility vehicles, specialty car maker Saleen Performance Cars is preparing to unveil a high-performance version of Ford Motor Co.’s best-selling Explorer.

Race driver Steve Saleen, who has been building high-performance Mustangs since 1984, says he plans to build about 500 of the highly tuned and restyled Explorers in the next year.

That’s barely a blip in a market that devours about 2 million sport-utility vehicles a year, but analysts say Saleen should have no problem meeting his goals, even with price tags ranging from $41,990 to $55,000.

“The growth rate for SUV sales is slowing a bit, but it is still a huge market and there’s activity at the high end,” says analyst Chris Cedergren, managing director of Nextrend, a Thousand Oaks auto industry consulting firm. “It’s a pretty good niche for a high-performance sport-utility to be in.”

Consumers spent $3.7 billion last year to restyle and boost the performance of their cars, with niche manufacturers and equipment installers taking in about 30% of the total, according to the Specialty Equipment Market Assn. in Diamond Bar. A big chunk of the trade group’s members are in Southern California, making the region the capital of the nation’s automotive aftermarket.

Only a few are classified as specialty car makers, though, and Saleen Performance is the nation’s largest.

The company changes the suspension, brake system, steering geometry, engine, interior and body panels of each Mustang it markets. It will do much the same for the Explorers, though it is leaving engine modification, including a supercharger, as a dealer-installed option to preserve the factory warranty.

At the top end, the Saleen Explorer Performance Utility Vehicle--or PUV--will come with a supercharged, 292-horsepower V-8 engine that is the most powerful available in a compact sport-utility vehicle. The current power leader, Chrysler Corp.’s Jeep Grand Cherokee with a V-8, has 245 horsepower and a price range of $30,000 to $38,000.

Why improve the Explorer, already the best-selling sport-utility vehicle in the market?

“Because there are areas we can improve, especially in safety,” Saleen said.

Like the Saleen Mustang, the Saleen Explorers will be sold only through a network of 100 Ford dealers. Six Southern California dealers, including Santa Margarita Ford in Orange County, will sell the models.

They will come with full factory warranties, a feature that makes Saleen’s performance cars unique in the industry.

The basic Saleen Explorer will use the stock V-6 and V-8 engines. The vehicles will be lowered 2 inches and equipped with 18-inch wheels and tires. Heavier shocks, springs and front and rear anti-sway bars will be installed, and Saleen will add interior, body and paint modifications.

Options include leather seats, a lightweight carbon-fiber-composite hood, a race-bred performance brake system, custom gauges and superchargers made by Powerdyne Automotive Product Inc. in Lancaster.

The $3,000 supercharger option--which increases the flow of air and fuel to the engine--will boost the V-6 from its stock 205 horsepower to about 260 horses and push the stock 222-horsepower V-8 to almost 300 horsepower, Saleen said.

“That kind of power is what is needed to help bring the enthusiast into the sport-utility market,” auto analyst John Rettie of JD Power & Associates said.

“There are a lot of drivers out there who would like to get into SUVs but have been reluctant to buy because of performance and handling issues,” he said.

“The danger, of course, is that if he does too well, Ford is probably going to look at making a high-performance Explorer of its own,” Rettie said.

“Historically, it has taken aftermarket companies to show the manufacturers what the market wants.”

While the extra power in the supercharged models will be the selling point for some customers, Saleen insisted that improving the Explorer’s handling and safety was the first priority when he decided to branch into the sport-utility market.

“SUVs just don’t handle as well as sports cars,” he said, “and I’ve never been as comfortable [as in a standard passenger car] when driving one on the freeway at 65.”

The lowered profile, suspension improvements and bigger tires and wheels on the Saleen Explorer improve its balance and steering response and lower the center of gravity to reduce the odds of rolling over, he said.

Saleen said he expects most of the Explorers he sells will be at the upper end of his price list. And despite his modest first-year goal of just 500 sales, he said the Explorer “PUV” could soon outpace the $30,000 to $60,000 Saleen Mustang on the sales floor.

“After all,” he mused, “Ford sells 4 1/2 times as many Explorers as Mustangs.”

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Popular Ride

Sales of compact sport-utility vehicles like the Ford Explorer have increased in each of the last five years and appear on track to top last year’s sales, when the vehicles accounted for 11.4% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. Sales of new compact sport-utility vehicles and market share:

1992

Sales: 993,156

Market share: 7.7%

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1993

Sales: 1,198,158

Market share: 8.6%

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1994

Sales: 1,336,020

Market share: 8.9%

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