At the Los Angeles Auto Show recently, we welcomed some fantastic new models and it’s got us quite excited for the upcoming year. As a part of this, the Saleen 1 was revealed and it looks as though they’ve held back a little. Rather than going all out with the bells and whistles, the Saleen 1 is compact and surprisingly advanced for this stage of the process. Of course, it’s still a prototype and this is important to remember but this mid-engine sports car looked beautiful in the orange coat. Even when looking inside, it offered a neat leather interior as opposed to the plastic-looking interior we normally see with prototypes.
At this point, the details are a little stretched since they’ve been holding the cards close to their chest. However, we know that it weighs just under 2,700 pounds and can be compared to the Porsche 718 Cayman in terms of size. According to Saleen, they created the 2.5-liter turbocharged engine with four cylinders. With this in mind, the model can offer 350 lb-ft of torque and over 450 horsepower. As standard, the Saleen 1 will come with a six-speed manual but there will be opportunities for a paddle shifted automatic (there’s no information as to how many gears this will offer just yet). Finally, it should take around 3.5 seconds for the Saleen 1 to reach 60mph from a standing start.
As of right now, this is about all the information we can offer. If you don't know about the company itself, it’s actually a collaboration between Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Technology Group (a Chinese corporation) and Steve Saleen (a famous tuner and automaker). Therefore, the production side of things will occur in China with the huge corporation dealing with capital and other logistics behind the model.
Known as JSATG, the Chinese company had other plans originally after they bought the Artega GT. After working with it for some time, they noted how it was proving difficult to update which is why they decided to build the Saleen 1 from the bottom upwards. If we compare the Saleen 1 to the Artega GT, they’re considerably different so it’s easy to see what they were trying to achieve and why it didn't work with the Artega GT. Not only are the dimensions different, the front and rear facias are also unique. This being said, they clearly took note from the model because there are similarities here and there that probably laid the foundations.
Set to be a low-volume sports car, all the information we have so far needs to be taken carefully since we could see many changes yet. However, we were impressed by the prototype at the LA Auto Show and it looks as though they’re on to something good if they can bring it to life!
Tags: Saleen, Breaking News, New Model, Reveal