IS NEW FORD GLOBAL PERFORMANCE CHIEF JOST CAPITO A SIGN?
[Get the latest "Truth With Speedzzter" here]
The Associated Press is reporting that Ford Motor Company has named Jost Capito to the new position of director of global performance vehicles and motorsport business development.
Capito used to be in charge of Ford's European performance vehicle operations.
At least it's better than when Henry Ford II purged nearly of the U.S. racing and "muscle parts" operations after some stormy Congressional testimony in 1970.
Instead it reminds of when Michael Kranefuss was brought over from Ford's German operations during the economic/energy crisis of the early 1980s to jumpstart Ford's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO).
Capito's appointment, however, may not bode well for continued development of V8 engines. Europeans tend not to be as in love with V8 sound and fury. For example, Michael Kranefuss mostly ignored FoMoCo's proud "Total Performance" traditions and bet SVO's budding street car capital on a pricey turbo four-cylinder Mustang --the oft-forgotten 1984-86 Mustang SVO -- instead of V8s.
He bet wrong.
However, Kranefuss later became so Americanized that he co-owned a NASCAR team in his post-FoMoCo retirement days.
Capito's rise could mean that the WRC-styled Focus RS is on a fast track to America.
What will it mean for Mustang? Capito is most certainly familiar with America's pony car, and its recent European racing successes in the FIA GT3 championship.
But does he UNDERSTAND the heart and soul of Mustang and SVT?
It will be interesting to see how Capito works with Brian Wolfe, Carroll Shelby, Jack Roush and other luminaries of FoMoCo's American performance operations
[Get the latest "Truth With Speedzzter" here]
The Associated Press is reporting that Ford Motor Company has named Jost Capito to the new position of director of global performance vehicles and motorsport business development.
Capito used to be in charge of Ford's European performance vehicle operations.
At least it's better than when Henry Ford II purged nearly of the U.S. racing and "muscle parts" operations after some stormy Congressional testimony in 1970.
Instead it reminds of when Michael Kranefuss was brought over from Ford's German operations during the economic/energy crisis of the early 1980s to jumpstart Ford's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO).
Capito's appointment, however, may not bode well for continued development of V8 engines. Europeans tend not to be as in love with V8 sound and fury. For example, Michael Kranefuss mostly ignored FoMoCo's proud "Total Performance" traditions and bet SVO's budding street car capital on a pricey turbo four-cylinder Mustang --the oft-forgotten 1984-86 Mustang SVO -- instead of V8s.
He bet wrong.
However, Kranefuss later became so Americanized that he co-owned a NASCAR team in his post-FoMoCo retirement days.
Capito's rise could mean that the WRC-styled Focus RS is on a fast track to America.
What will it mean for Mustang? Capito is most certainly familiar with America's pony car, and its recent European racing successes in the FIA GT3 championship.
But does he UNDERSTAND the heart and soul of Mustang and SVT?
It will be interesting to see how Capito works with Brian Wolfe, Carroll Shelby, Jack Roush and other luminaries of FoMoCo's American performance operations
Labels: Ford Racing, Ford Racing Performance Parts, Ford Total Performance, Jost Capito, SVO
posted by Editor at 09:52
4 Comments:
Are you kidding me? I'd love to have a Focus ST or RS. Hopefully, when the Euro Focus and US Focus unite as one again in 2011, we get some hot hatch versions to go with it.
As for the Mustang, as long as it keeps selling 100K units a year, it should be okay...
Truth With Speedzzter supports Ford agressively competing in the
"Sport Compact" niche. It was a huge mistake to cede this trendy segment to the Japanese.
Whether the Mustang will be "okay" isn't the issue. Whether it will survive in a recognizable form is. Without RWD and available V8 power, a Mustang really isn't true to its "DNA." Truth With Speedzzter does not relish a return to the dark days of the Mustang II.
Technology makes it possible to still sell high performance V8s with better fuel economy (assuming that CAFE standards don't get out of control).
The open questions are (a) will FoMoCo risk investing such technology in a niche platform; (b) will the costs be so prohibitive as to kill off most of the "pony car" market; (c) will a company fighting for mainstream survival have sufficient resources to nurture the Mustang properly; (d) Will Obama kill all the fun with a draconian 50+ m.p.g. CAFE standard?
However, to borrow from a post over at the Car Craft forum:
"Well if we have to do this 50 m.p.g. thing, a 2 liter mini-V8 would help some of us cope.
Just imagine ... a 2-liter DOHC V8 with cylinder deactivation (that'd make it a hyper-efficient one-liter at part throttle), variable cam lift and timing, a screamin' redline and high-boost forced induction (alcohol-enriched) in a smaller, lighter-weight RWD car . . . .
Maybe even add in one of those 42-volt starter-alternators or an electric assist motor so we could shut it down at stop lights when we're just commuting and not cruising or racing . . . .
I suspect what we'll get are a bunch of FWD turbo fours and sixes. Better than nothing, but not as good as a similarly-sized V8 driving the CORRECT SET OF WHEELS.
And you can spray about anything for fun and profit (if "the Man" doesn't ban N02 as a greenhouse gas).
I also suspect that sport bikes will surge in popularity if the clamp-down on Car Crafting/Hot Rodding gets too harsh."
http://forums.carcraft.com/70/7142901/car-craft-magazine/get-ready-to-kiss-your-chance-at-a-v8-goodby/index.html
I personally find it hilarious and sad that you'd risk putting Sarah Palin a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the White House over this, btw... stop being so goddamn paranoid already.
Post a Comment
<< Home