Famed american tuner Saleen is back with news of a new supercar

Tuning entrepreneur Steve Saleen made a name for himself under the Saleen name, until he left and founded the Steven Mark Saleen (SMS) company. Saleen was famous for tuning Dodge Challengers, Ford Mustangs and manufacturing the incredible S7 supercar. After a lengthy court battle, the 63 year old, Mr Saleen says he has legally regained use of his name on all his products and revealed some future plans for the company.

A tuned Camaro has been long in the works together with a new supercar, a potential replacement for the S7. The S5S Raptor concept car revealed at the New York auto show back in 2008 might still see the light of production. Mr Saleen said he is confident that the S5S, or a similar car, will be coming out, maybe with a name change.

The four year old S5S Raptor concept still looks fresh, futuristic and aggressive. In fact it looks like a potential McLaren F1 replacement if you paste a McLaren badge on its hood. The concept was to be powered by a 5.0-liter supercharged Ford V8 650hp and 812Nm of torque with an impressive 3.2second century sprint.

The figures are still impressive in today’s standards, and with current technologies, the car could be given a sleeker shape and a more powerful powertrain with high tech composite materials.

If it hits the production line, yet another American-born supercar can compete with the likes of SSC Tuatara and Hennessey Venom GT. Production numbers are expected to be not more than 30, with each costing well over S$1.3million.

There will be 3 categories in the tuning department, the white, yellow and black label. The basic White Label will be normally aspirated with various tuned bits like a unique suspension, intake, exhaust and aerodynamic enhancing trim. Power output will be 450hp.

The Yellow Label will add a supercharger to increase output to 600hp with the range topping Black Label tuning will have cars producing between 625hp and 650hp together with full aerodynamics and a sports suspension.

Mr Saleen admits it will take time to rebuild and restructure the company. Saleen was founded in 1984 and released its first Mustang.