Steve Saleen's plan of attack for 2009

Steve Saleen is bringing back the musclecar wars with the help of the Detroit 3. Not content to modify Ford Mustangs alone, the former head of Saleen, Inc. is branching out into bowtie and Mopar territory as well. His new company, SMS Limited, will take on all three of the new retro rods this year. Under his former eponymous company's banner he had focused primarily on Ford vehicles, but now that Dodge and Chevrolet are getting back into the musclecar game, he figures it's time to expand his reach.

We've already profiled the SMS Limited Signature Series Dodge Challenger that Saleen has developed, and talked to Steve about what he had planned for the 2010 Mustang, but now we have a few more details about the SMS versions of the Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro. For 2009, SMS Limited will not only build the SMS 570 and 570X Challengers, but also the SMS 460 Mustang and later in the year a line of SMS Camaros in their 150,000-square-foot facility in Anaheim, California.

All of the cars will get SMS superchargers, tweaked suspensions, and unique exterior styling elements, and the superchargers are more efficient and provide better cooling than anything they've used before. The company is also putting a new emphasis on upscale interiors, with better materials that should justify the cars' higher sticker prices. SMS Challenger production should begin this month, with 2010 Mustangs starting to show up in the spring. And if all goes according to plan, Camaros should start rolling out by the end of the year. Customers wanting a bit of Saleen magic applied to their musclecars will be able to order them through select Dodge, Ford or Chevrolet dealerships.

[Source: Detroit News]