PanterroR
Lap Time Luminary
As Dateline's Chris Hansen might say, "Have a seat right over there for me..." Except I'm not going to talk to you about mustachioed old men and fourteen-year-old girls — no, that's just wrong. The predators I'm concerned with are undercover performance beasts being pumped out onto the streets by otherwise innocent and practical car manufacturers. Papa Motive doesn't want you getting embarrassed out on our dangerous system of roads and freeways, after all. The following is a list, along with some details and background, of each in-house performance engineering team currently building high-powered products for U.S. consumption.
***All current product lists include vehicles confirmed for production in the next twelve months***
AMG boasts a long and colorful history, its genesis going back to 1967 when Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Meicher used the first letters of their last names and Aufrecht's birthplace, Grossaspach, to name their small race tuning company in Burgstall. The duo produced a modified 300 SEL 6.8 racecar for 1971, and after an impressive showing at Spa-Francorchamps the name took its place in history. Moving to its current Affalterbach, Germany, location in 1976, the company has produced legends like the 1986 300E 5.6 AMG "Hammer," which was the first production sedan to top 300 km/h thanks to a 360 hp V-8 with four valves per cylinder, and the CLK63 AMG Black Series, a heart stopper that ran in limited production for the 2008 model year. The company currently employs over 750 workers, but still operates under its original philosophy, where one worker alone builds an entire engine.
BMW's Motorsport arm might be best known for the legendary M3, but the M story doesn't begin in 1988, the year in which the E30 M3 first went on sale here. Rewind 16 years, and BMW Motorsport GmbH was just being launched to build track-ready versions of the 2002 and 3.0 CSI before commissioning its first road car in 1976. The result of that project was the 1978 M1, a mid-engine exotic designed by Paul Bracq and Giorgetto Giugiaro. Lamborghini signed on early as a co-developer and builder of the M1, but financial troubles at Sant'Agata left BMW on its own to cover the 470 cars constructed. The M5, M6, and M3 would pick up where the M1 left off in the mid-'80s, and all three are still built today, along with the Z4 M Coupe and Roadster. Rumor has it the M team is working on a successor to the car that started it all, and we pray it's true.
John Cooper's now-legendary connection to the lovable Mini began in 1961 when the racecar builder was commissioned to create a stronger, more thrilling version of the tiny transport. The focal point of the project was swapping out the base Mini's 848-cc, 34-hp engine for something suitable for a car, rather than a lawnmower. That engine was a 997-cc powerplant making 55 hp, and two years later the 1963 Cooper S was introduced with a 1071-cc version of the engine, which was capable of taking the little tin can to speeds of almost 100 mph. That car went on to win the Monte Carlo rally in 1964, 1965, and 1967, cementing the Mini Cooper's place in motorsports history. Today, the Cooper name is on every Mini built, leaving the JCW tag to fill the role as the company's top performer. From 2003-2008, JCW cars were built at dealers with parts from John Cooper Garages in England. Going forward, all JCW cars and accessories will come directly from the factory, making the name a Mini version of BMW's M division.
NISMO, short for NISsan MOtorsports International, was launched in September of 1984 and began selling clothing and high-performance parts in Japan the following February. Since then, Nissan's performance arm has tuned various sports cars and pickup trucks for both street and off-road competition, with notable icons including the Skyline GT-R and multiple generations of the "Z" cars getting the special NISMO touch. NISMO launched its United States operations in 2003, and while two NISMO-badged vehicles are currently offered, the organization's primary business is in parts: NISMO's "S-tune" components are sold and warranted for street use, while "R-tune" products have no warranties and aren't recommended for street cars. NISMO offers a full clothing line as well, along with legacy parts (again, no warranty) for Nissan and Datsun products from yesteryear.
While Ford's Racing division has been in operation as a developer of performance parts and motorsport vehicles since 1981, it wasn't until ten years later that Ford invested time and capital into a street performance arm. Known as SVT, or Special Vehicle Team, the high-horsepower division started off with a bang at the 1992 Chicago show, unveiling hot versions of both the Mustang and the F-150, both of which have seen multiple and progressively madder generations in the time since. The short-lived Contour also got SVT attention and has since become a cult classic, as has the later SVT Focus, sold in both three- and five-door hatchback forms. Most recently, SVT oversaw development of the 2005-06 Ford GT supercar and the current Shelby GT500 and GT500KR variants of the Mustang. Since the debuts of those vehicles, the SVT flame has burned a bit colder while Ford's attention has been focused on rejuvenating its mainstream line-up, but we can only hope the coals will be rekindled soon.
The Chrysler Group's high-performance division has had a life-long problem with its own identity, changing up its name with every new batch of cars released. When the Viper debuted in 1992, it was build by SVE, or Specialty Vehicle Engineering, and that name carried on through the Plymouth Prowler and Dodge Neon ACR projects. In 2001 the organization was renamed PVO, or Performance Vehicle Operations. Under that name, Chrysler debuted the Neon SRT4 and a new generation of Viper, then dropped that car's psychotic V-10 into both regular and crew cab versions of the Dodge Ram. Yes, the SVE years were a bit crazy. In 2003, senior management mandated that all performance vehicles wear one united badge, giving birth to the Street and Racing Technology name. Today, they're responsible for squeezing 420-hp Hemis into anything that can accommodate one (where's our Wrangler SRT8?) and strapping massive turbos to anything that won't. Not a bad job already, but the SRT boys also get to manage Dodge Motorsports and Mopar Performance parts.
Other than the obvious difference in power and sharpness, there's one major difference between Audi's "S" cars and "RS" cars. The former are engineered and constructed alongside the rest of the Audi product range, while the latter are projects controlled by Quattro GmbH, Audi's in-house tuning shop. While the division's history dates back to 1983, the first production car developed by Quattro GmbH was the 1999 RS4, followed in 2002 by the twin-turbo RS6 and in 2005 by a second-generation RS4. Most recently, this team of engineers has churned out the award-winning R8 and a second-generation RS6, a 580-hp twin-turbo V-10-powered sport wagon that claims the title of "most powerful Audi ever." Quattro GmbH has a few other responsibilities as well, including running Audi's "Individual" car-customization program and developing optional "S-line" sport packages for the run-of-the-mill A3, A4, A5, A6, and TT models.
Lexus — and parent company Toyota for that matter — builds a fine line of reliable and comfortable vehicles for the general public, but it has never really grabbed more than a ray or two of the enthusiast spotlight. The new "F" line of cars is intended to remedy that situation, starting with the all-new 416-hp IS-F. The badge doesn't stand for "fast" as some might think, but instead harkens back to the internal "Circle-F" code for what evolved into the Lexus brand 20 years ago. Additionally, the shape of the F badge flanking the IS-F is meant to mimic the curve of turn one at Fuji Speedway, Lexus's self-declared home track. It's unknown where the F badge will find itself next, but the upcoming production version of the LF-A concept will surely wear one. In addition to developing the IS-F and future production cars, Lexus' new performance arm has also announced a series of aftermarket parts for the regular IS under the name "F-Sport."
Of all the in-house tuners, GM's Performance Division boasts the highest levels of randomness and confusion. The upcoming Pontiac G8 GXP is being tuned by this special team of gearhead engineers, but the Solstice GXP was not. The Saturn Ion Red Line fell into the division's territory, but no current Red Line products were engineered by GMPD. We didn't forget certain models in the list above, it's just that some performance models on the market were engineered by the same people who developed the slower versions of the same car. And while GM has made fast cars ever since the concept existed, they weren't ever under one overarching division until 2002. Another twist? They don't touch Corvette development. That's a separate team altogether. If that's not all confusing enough, GMPD also manages GM performance parts and is responsible for all special dress-up packages such as Cadillac's Platinum models. Here's our tip for deciding whether GMPD tuned a car: if it's fast and handles well, they did it. If it's just a breadbox with speed, this talented group probably didn't touch it.
Many Americans probably think STI is nothing more than a special, faster WRX, which itself is just a fast Impreza. But Subaru Tecnica International's history is richer than that, having developed STI versions of the Legacy and the Forester while winning three drivers' titles and three manufacturer titles in World Rally Championship racing in its 17 years of existence. In the U.S., the STI name arrived in 2004 with the first of three WRX STI generations, snapped up by boy racers and Richard Burns wannabes. And don't forget — while the first generation was an STi (note the small "i"), the second and current generations both wear three capital letters: "STI."
Mazdaspeed's beginning is the stuff of bedtime stories. Under the name "Mazda Sports Corner," the team of race engineers worked out of Mazda Auto Tokyo, the country's largest Mazda dealer. The group aimed to, and did, establish Mazda's sports cars as a force to be reckoned with on the global motorsports stage. Mazda invited the team to work out of the company's Hiroshima headquarters in 1983, where it continued to develop serious race vehicles and even secured an outright win at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans before the FIA banned rotary engines from competition. From there, the company took a more grassroots approach by focusing on aftermarket parts and smaller, more lenient organizations like the SCCA. Only a handful of production vehicles — the Mazdaspeed Protégé, the Mazdaspeed MX-5 Miata, the Mazdaspeed6, and the Mazdaspeed3 — have worn the Mazdaspeed badge, but fully warranted styling-and-performance parts are available for Mazda owners looking for a chance to make a high-performance "Zoom-Zoom" cars of their own.
Link: MotiveMagazine.com - Motive List: A look at factory hot rodders
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Great work by the guys from MM.
