Saleen Automotive, Inc. (fka SLNN)

[AutoInvestor]

Corrective History:

Ron had desire to become a racing driver, so Tony bought Saleen"

Tony Johnson never bought Saleen. Tony supported Steve's quest to build one S7 Racecar that was budgeted to cost approximately $500K. Once Tony starting writing checks, Steve kept adding cost and Tony had to keep putting more money in to keep the project going. Much more than he ever really wanted to.

"Depending on who you speak with, during the Tony Johnson era if Saleen Performance made money, broke even, or had loss year-in year-out... did not matter much to TJ since they were racing and the loss could be a written off or absorbed by his conglomerate.

Rediculous- Tony Johnson never wanted or expected to lose millions of dollars working with Steve. Steve took advantage of
Tony's generosity. He would beg Tony to cover the payroll after bouncing checks and Tony would pull through because he did not want the shop guys to take the hit. There was no connection between Saleen and Hidden Creek Industries. All the losses were absorbed by Tony. He could not write off expenses to Hidden Creek.

Tim Allen and Disney brought money to go racing as well.

Tim Allen is no longer talking to Steve Saleen. He lost more money than he ever intended during the short time he was involved with Steve.

HPA invested in Saleen during 2003 taking control from TJ. The number once quoted was $10,000.000.00 to buy controlling interest.

"

Wrong-Tony Johnson finally put up the white flag and stopped funding Saleen after he lost $25M. Saleen had 60 lawsuits filed against it by unpaid vendors, suppliers in England who Steve signed contracts to build S7 Body's and customers who had warranty claims for defective Mustangs which Steve would not make good on.
Saleen filed for bankruptcy and HPA agreed with the bankruptcy judge to pay the accumulated debt in exchange for 100% of the Saleen shares. HPA then granted Steve 10% of the shares to manage the company as CEO and President.

It is believe Ford Motor Company invented in the renovation of the Troy facility which became SSV for Ford GT production".

HPA paid for the Troy Facility based on a contract signed by Ford to build 4,500 Ford GT's over three years.

Commonly stated was HPA desire to convert Saleen into an OEM supplier and do contract builds like the Ford GT, Harley Davidson F150 supercharged, Dodge Viper sub painting, etc. The idea of producing serialized signature vehicles may not have been of interest to them. This notion was bolstered by their investment in ASC during 2007.

Wrong again, The business plan Steve submitted to HPA and agreed to was for Saleen to expand it's Ford dealership network agreements from 235 dealers in 2006 to 1,500 dealerships over three years. The dealerships would agree to stock Mustangs, F150's & Focus vehicles. The plan went to hell when Steve stopped signing Ford Dealerships and took the profits and cashflow generated in 2005 and blew it supporting race teams in Europe and a Retail Store in Irvine, CA. The delay of the 2006 Mustang interrupted the growth of the dealership network because Saleen was not even shipping the cars due for delivery to the 235 dealership it had agreements with. The Ford Dealerships and Customers were very unhappy with Saleen for not delivering their vehicles on schedule.

HPA had/has auto enthusiasts on staff, but they did not know how to run or manage an automobile company. Nor did they know how to invest and/or hire personnel that did. The failure of Saleen Inc, the poor purchase of ASC and the continued limbo ASC operates within are proof. ]

Rediculous- The party was over by 2007. Saleen failed it's business plan in 2006. HPA purchased ASC to raise enough capital to support the losses being generated by Saleen after the Ford GT program ran out and Steve did not pitch a replacement vehicle to Ford.

The question I cannot definitively answer is... was a premier investment group like HPA swindled out of millions or were they incompetent

Easy to see that HPA, Tony Johnson and Tim Allen were all swindled. Now it is the shareholders turn to support Steve.

These comments are my opinion. Invest based on your own research and conclusions.