 | This article may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. (April 2024) |
 "Power in the hands of a few" | |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1983, as Saleen Autosport |
| Founder | Steve Saleen |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Products | Cars |
| Brands | Maxgrip, Powerflash, Racecraft, S4, Speedlab |
| Owner | Steve Saleen |
Number of employees | 80 |
| Website | www |
Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, USA and privately held.
Saleen's flagship car was the Saleen S7, introduced in 2000. The S7 was wholly built by Saleen and features a mid-engine design in a high-performance sports-car package. It is also currently the only Saleen production car not based on an existing design or chassis.
Saleen currently[when?] manufactures the S302 (Mustang-based), the Ford F-150-based Saleen Sportruck, and Sportruck XR, a Saleen Tesla GTX and Saleen S1, a new Saleen sports car, and a limited-run successor to the S7 sports car, the S7 LM.[1]
In 2017, Saleen formed a partnership with the city of Rugao to form Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Technology.[2] to produce and distribute Saleen vehicles in China for the Chinese market.[3] The company's only mass-produced model, the Maimai, had a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph) and a new European driving cycle range of 305 km, was introduced in 2019, but only 27 had sold as of April 2021.[4] In May 2020, the former legal manager at Saleen, Qiao Yudong, revealed that the chairman of the company, Wang Xiaolin, had made false claims about technology investment and embezzled a significant amount of state capital by inflating the costs of so-called "car-making technologies". Wang then absconded to the United States.[4] As a result, the local court closed down two local factories of Saleen Auto, froze the equity of four companies held by Wang, and shuttered Saleen Auto's Shanghai branch.[5]
- ^ "The Saleen S7 lives! Now with 1,000 horsepower". Autoblog. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^ Saleen, Steve (July 31, 2020). "How Chinese Officials Hijacked My Company", Wall Street Journal,. Retrieved Aug. 10, 2020.
- ^ Wang, Joey (15 November 2017). "Saleen Is Now Chinese, Steve Relegated To Vice Chairm". Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Seized Plant of Chinese NEV Maker Saleen to Be Auctioned Off". www.yicaiglobal.com. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
- ^ "Scandal-Ridden Auto Brand Saleen to Go Under the Hammer". EqualOcean. Retrieved 2023-02-04.