Is this car irresponsible?
BY BRUCE NEWTON | 23rd Oct 2001
Mr Flint said the Maloo HRT Edition was "a very nice looking car, but from a power perspective utterly irresponsible".
The concept's power output from a 6.2-litre version of the Chev Gen III V8, dubbed LS6 by HSV, is 50kW above the nearest production HSV and 100kW above the Ford T3 T-Series and XR8 ute launched in Sydney.
HSV is considering a limited run of 350kW cars after a positive response to the concept.
Tickford Vehicle Engineering, which Mr Flint runs, developed the 5.6-litre version of the Windsor V8 that powers the new Fords, as well as building the XR range of sports Falcons.
Mr Flint said he was concerned about the sheer power levels generated by the LS6 engine and also its installation in a ute.
"I think it's (350kW) scary, very scary, particularly in a car like that," he said.
HSV general manager Chris Payne said he was surprised by Mr Flint's comments.
"It's quite an odd thing to say because we are both in the same game," he said.
"Every time we've moved the bar forward in the power stakes we've also moved forward enormously in safety initiatives and vehicle control initiatives and that's not going to stop in the future." Mr Flint has consistently warned against HSV and Tickford becoming involved in a power war that in the long term could kill off high-performance local cars.
He said there were both environmental and road safety arguments that could be used against high-powered cars.
"There's the environmentalists that say you are using too much gas, your engines are too big there's the safety guys that say there is a correlation between road accidents and speed," he said.
"And once these other dynamics start to get into the equation they are out of our control. We can control the marketing but we can't control what the legislators say and that scares me.
"By jumping power over power over power over power - which I refuse to do - I think we are just asking for trouble. I don't think it's a responsible way of building a car." Mr Flint defended the recent move of the XR8 to 220kW and the 250kW T3 as simply meeting a market necessity, in both cases bringing the Fords to within 5kW of their Holden and HSV competitors.
He would not rule out a 300kW T-Series to match HSV's range-topping SV300, although he was not enthusiastic about the prospect.
"I don't actually think we need to go too much further, we've taken a chassis that is really superlative and given the customer the torque and power characteristics they say they are looking for, I just wonder about the necessity to go any further." Mr Flint said he talked regularly to John Crennan, his HSV opposite number, but that he had not discussed a voluntary power cap to head off a power war.
"I am only giving you my view, this is my own personal view - I wouldn't do that without discussing it with Ford. This is not Flint decision this is corporate, because I don't build cars for me, I build them for Ford Motor Company and its customers.
"I wouldn't embark on that strategy without discussing it with them first and I haven't discussed it with them."