Flash.(Briefs)

SVT line growing

Look for Ford to up its ante in special vehicle development. Phil Martens, Ford group vice president of product creation, says the company plans to increase its investment in its Special Vehicle Team in the coming three to four years.

Martens didn't specify a figure, but Ford director of SVT products John Coletti did say the extra money would be for additional vehicles beyond today's Mustang, Lightning and Focus that SVT is doing. Coletti didn't say exactly what that might include, but did confirm that it wouldn't be for anything outside of the Ford brand.

"Performance doesn't always equal halo,'' said Coletti. "Does Volvo need a 12-second Volvo? Hell no.''

SRT-4 sales screaming

When Dodge first envisioned building a performance version of its Neon subcompact, internal estimates suggested sales might reach 1000 per year. By the time the vehicle hit the market earlier this year, that number had already been revised upward to 3000. Now Dodge marketing chief David Kimball says the earlier projections need another adjustment, given the company is on track to sell 10,000 SRT-4s per year and will likely decide soon to boost annual production to 13,000 cars.

The SRT-4 will still be hard to come by, no doubt, considering the 2004 model's horsepower increases by 15 to 230 hp and the car gets a limited-slip differential, all for the slightly higher base price of $20,995.