OAKVILLE, Ont., June 12 -Ford's Ontario Truck Plant (OTP) will be the sole manufacturer of the 1999 Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT) F-15O Lightning high performance pickup truck, Charles Shortridge, newly-appointed OTP plant manager announced today.
"The selection of OTP as the sole manufacturing plant for the Lightning is a fitting tribute to the highly skilled, talented and dedicated workforce at this plant," said Shortridge. "It is also a confirmation of the over $1 billion investment in OTP made by Ford Motor Company to expand the plant for the introduction of the 1997 F-Series pickup truck," added Shortridge.
During the expansion in 1996, the plant more than doubled in size to 270,360 square metres (3 million square feet) with the addition of a new paint facility and body shop and retooling of the final assembly area. Ontario Truck currently produces 52.5 F-Series trucks per hour on one shift and has 1,275 hourly and 109 salaried employees.
The SVT Lightning is based on the F-15O Regular Cab XLT Flareside two-wheel drive model, but has extensive modifications to turn it into a truly high performance vehicle.
The 1999 Ford SVT F-15O Lightning's 5.4-litre supercharged and intercooled Triton (TM) V-S engine will produce in excess of 325 horsepower and be able to power the truck to 0 - 100 kilometre-per-hour (0 - 60 miles per hour) times of less than seven seconds, said Shortridge.
In addition to the engine changes, the SVT F-15O Lightning features front and rear suspension upgrades, standard four-wheel disc brakes and four-wheel anti-lock brakes, 18-inch wheels and tires, a sport instrument panel and a modified front fascia to improve engine cooling and give the truck a more rugged sporty look.
"Our customers will enjoy the highest performance pickup truck ever built," said John Coletti, Special Vehicle Engineering, manager, Ford Motor Company. ''The 1999 SVT F-15O Lightning will not only accelerate like a bolt from the blue, it will stop in a flash and ride and handle like no other pickup before it," added Coletti.
Job One for the 1999 Ford SVT F-15O Lightning is scheduled for March 1, 1999 and the truck will go on sale in April at over 620 specially-trained SVT certified Ford dealers throughout North America. In keeping with the Special Vehicle Team's pledge of exclusivity to its customers, annual production is targeted at just 4,000 units.
The Ford F-Series pickup truck has been Canada's No. 1 selling vehicle - car or truck - for the last four years and the best-selling full-size pickup truck for the last 32 years.