The Story About The Founders
Saleen Automotive was founded by professional racer, Steve Saleen, in 1983 and debuted its first vehicle in 1984. Seeing the need for a limited edition, driver focused automobile, Steve created the Saleen Mustang which would go on to win driver and manufacture championships in racing. His vision proved to be popular amongst consumers who wanted the “race proven performance for the street.”
Starting with a clean sheet of paper, Saleen designed and built its own supercar, the S7. The S7R (racing version) would go on to dominate racing worldwide, ultimately winning the 24 Hours of Lemans and beating out top European competitors such as Ferrari, Porsche, and McLaren. This experience in building our own supercar led to a contract with Ford to engineer, develop, and produce the Ford GT (2004-2006). All of this history in manufacturing and racing provides a strong foundation as we move into the future with the S1 which is a true “sportscar with supercar DNA,” and our all new-electric S5 with its AWD and torque-vectoring to compete amongst the best supercars in the world.
This experience carries through in everything Saleen designs and builds today.
