Roush primes for Aussie attack

Legendary US tuning house Roush Performance wants to mount a significant attack on the Australian market with a 542kW supercharged Mustang as its earth-shaking flagship model.

Currently selling some parts in Australia through a few independent outlets such as Herrod Motorsport and Mustang Motorsport, Roush wants to do a deal directly with Ford Australia. If it goes ahead Ford’s local dealer network would market a full range of Roush vehicle packages.

In an exclusive interview, Roush Performance products and strategy vice president Justin Schroeder told motoring.com.au the company wants to have its plans finalised by the end of 2016. Currently three scenarios being considered.

Roush’s first option is to take right-hand drive Mustang coupes from Ford’s Flat Rock plant in Michigan and then build them to Australian dealer order at its own facility, which is also in Michigan.

Option B is to establish a relationship with an Australian engineering business to convert Mustangs to Roush Performance specification locally before being shipped on to the dealer.

Option C is an expansion of its current structure, allowing appointed independents to fit Roush kits to customer Mustangs. In such a scenario, Roush’s offering would be limited to a lower level of modification compared to A and B’s fully built-up cars.

“I would guess we would decide by the end of the year what we do,” Roush’s Schroeder told motoring.com.au at the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas this week.

“Ideally we would like to control the build of our cars and we would like to build them here [in North America]… that’s unlikely in this model year but that’s what we would like to do,” he stated.

In North America, Roush offers four different specifications of the Mustang, covering off the V8, V6 (not sold in Australia) and the EcoBoost four-cylinder. Mustangs that are modified at Roush’s facilities before delivery to dealers are fully warrantied by Ford.

At SEMA yesterday, Roush unveiled the 727hp (542kW) P-51, which is a 51-off special edition flagship that goes on-sale before the end of the year.

The P-51 is powered by a 5.0-litre Ford ‘Aluminator’ 5.0-litre V8 crate engine boosted by a Roush’s highest output Phase 2 supercharger kit. This moves outputs on from the top-spec Roush Stage 3 Mustang V8 kit in the USA, which offers 650hp (484kW), three-way adjustable coil-over suspension, performance brakes and cosmetics – among many other upgrades.

The cost is $US19,500 on top of the $US45,000 for an equivalent to the Performance Pack Mustang hardtop V8 specification sold in Australia.

Based on current exchange rates that translates to an $85,000 sticker price in Australia, but Schroeder suggested more power might be considered for Australia.

“We might look to add some value to that for Australia and go out with a 727hp (542kW) version and these are the things that we have to deal with,” he said.

Schroeder confirmed there were several issues that were currently working against Roush getting its preferred US build option across the line. Primary is that cars it would convert before dealer delivery would come out of current allocation and not be additional.

With Australian Ford dealers selling every Mustang they can get their hands on and the waiting last stretching out well into 2017 their enthusiasm for doing a deal with Roush might be limited.

“How much would they divert to us to build that car and then send on to them?” Schroeder asked rhetorically.

“It’s their allocation. I can’t get extra allocation for that market.

“But when everything gets caught up a little and we can help move some extra chassis and we can look at a different allocation for the market, then things balance out,” he said.

There are also potential drive-by noise issues that apply to OEM cars (as cars built by Roush before customer delivery would be classified) but not appointed resellers.

The potential arrival of Roush Performance complicates further a quickly evolving part of the market that is being energised by the end of OEM manufacturing, the death of locally produced Falcon and Commodore V8 muscle-cars and the overwhelming local sales response to the Mustang.

Factory-owned Ford Performance, which has Roush superchargers in its performance armoury, is already represented in Australia by renowned Ford tuner Rob Herrod (who markets the equipment under the Herrod Performance brand], while Ford Australia has been working for some months to gain ADR approval to sell Roush’s supercharging technology through Ford dealers.

Leading Supercars operation Prodrive Racing Australia has also just weighed into the hot Ford wars by re-launching the Tickford brand.

Schroeder said Roush started its investigation of the Australian market when a group of its executives were part of a SEMA group that visited Australia to investigate business opportunities.

“We did the tour, we went to tracks, we went to dealers, we went to our customers, we met quite a few people,” he explained.

“The question is what percentage of [potential Mustang sales] that are there [in Australia] would actually be available to Roush.”

Established by tuning and motorsport legend Jack Roush Sr, Roush Performance is now in more than 20 markets. It sells approximately 3000 tuned Mustangs per annum in North America.

“The opportunity just came when Ford brought us global and the demand for our brand and our products came up. It wasn’t something we went looking for but it’s certainly been good for us in terms of parts,” Schroeder told motoring.com.au.

“It’s certainly been an opportunity and challenge for us,” he stated.