LIVONIA, Mich. (September 5, 2000) -- Over the course of the next two months the team of engineers at Roush Industries' headquarters in Livonia, Mich., will be hard at work addressing a challenge put forth to them. Jack Roush, chairman of Roush Industries and avid race car enthusiast, has challenged his Design, Engineering and Marketing groups to create a true high-performance, reliable and exciting Mustang, "A True Muscle Car."

Roush challenged his core engineers, the same ones that build his 700-plus horsepower Winston Cup motors, to build a Hot Rod Mustang from the ground up. Though the Mustang will be the first Stage III vehicle developed by the Roush Performance team, a full line of Ford high-performance vehicles will follow. To complete this project, Roush engineers will utilize the technical support and information offered through the recently established Technology Transfer Program made possible by SEMA's "Partner in Technology" initiative with Ford Motor Company.

"I have challenged my engineers to create a car that delivers affordable performance and quality at a level never delivered outside the OEM's," said Jack Roush. "Our goal is to become one of America's premiere manufacturers of performance vehicles and that will be made possible because of Ford's SEMA initiatives, which provides companies the calibration information needed to create significant horsepower gains. Our sales and marketing staff has worked directly with Ford's dealer network, and based on customer input we have created multi-level equipment packages that we call stages."

The new Roush Stage III vehicle will touch on all of the major areas of the car - body, brakes, exhaust system, power train, suspension/wheels and interior. Jack will monitor every step of the development effort, including horsepower, chassis and interior/exterior styling. It also marks Roush Industries' first opportunity to focus and combine its engineering, prototyping, tooling, testing, manufacturing and assembly capabilities on an internal project.