O. John Coletti is an American

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

engineer. He worked for the American automaker

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

in the company's performance division, and later was the COO and president of EcoMotors International until his retirement on March 15, 2013. He was responsible, as director of that company's

Special Vehicle Team Special Vehicle Team, also known as SVT, was an arm of Ford Motor Company responsible for the development of the company's highest-performance vehicles. Established in 1991, SVT was the successor to the SVO division. The last SVT Director was H ...

(SVT) group, for a number of special performance cars in the 1990s and 2000s, including the

Ford Focus The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...

''SVT'', ''SVT''

Contour Contour may refer to: * Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound * Pitch contour * Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system * Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices * Contour line, a curve along which the function ha ...

Ford F-150 The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks marketed and manufactured by Ford since the 1948 model year. Slotted above the Ford Ranger in the Ford truck model range, the F-Series is marketed as a range of full-sized pickup trucks. ...

''Lightning'' and the Ford Mustang ''Cobra''. He later spearheaded development and production of the

Ford GT The Ford GT is a mid-engine two-seater sports car manufactured and marketed by American automobile manufacturer Ford for the 2005 model year in conjunction with the company's 2003 centenary. The second generation Ford GT became available for ...

supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

. Since retirement, he has been the managing director of Automotive Performance Partners. Production vehicles programs under Coletti's leadership include: :1991 Mustang Feature Car :1992 Mustang Feature Car Yellow w/Chrome Wheels :1992 Mustang Feature Car Monochromatic White :1992 Tempo V6 :1994 SN95 Mustang :1994 Mustang Indy Pace Car :1995 Mustang Cobra R "351W" :1998 SVT Contour :1999 F150 SVT Lightning :2000 Mustang Cobra R "5.4L-4V" :2002 Focus ST170 (European Market) :2002 SVT Focus "Piranha" :2003 SVT Cobra "Terminator" :2004 Ford GT "Petunia" Concept vehicle programs that were developed, but never saw production, include: :1993 Mach III Mustang :1994 BOSS 10L Mustang :1995 Ford GT90 :1995 Mustang CJ-R :1996 Contour "Profile" :1996 Taurus SHO Station Wagon "Gumby" :1996 SVT Thunderbird :1997 Mustang Super Stallion :1998 Escort CT120 Turbo :1998 Ranger "Lightning Bolt" :1998 Supercharged Thunderbird :2000 SVE Ford Focus "Irene" :2005 SVT Lightning "Tomcat" :2006 SVT T/C Focus "Panama" :2006 SVT Mustang Cobra "Condor" He is also credited with saving the

rear wheel drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-wheel ...

Mustang in the early 1990s, when it was to be eliminated for cost reasons. Coletti retired from SVT in 2004. He and his wife Judy are the parents of four children.

External links

John Coletti'
Biography at EcoMotors

Bibliography

*Paul Ingrassia & Joseph B. White, ''COMEBACK, The Fall & Rise of the American Automobile Industry'', chapter 16 "The Mustang", 1994. , *Bob McClurg, ''Mustang, The Next Generation'', chapters 6 - 11. 1994, *Donald Farr, ''Mustang Fifty Years'', pp 122, 124-129, 138-139, 221-222. 2013, *Joseph Juran & A. Blanton Godfrey, ''Juran's Quality Handbook'', 5th edition, chapter 3, "The Quality Planning Process". 1998 *Russ Banham, ''The Ford Century: Ford Motor Company and the Innovations that Shaped the World'', p 229. 2002 *Jim Campisano, ''Powered by SVT, Celebrating a Decade of Ford Performance'', pp 5, 14-16, 22-24, 43, 49-50, 64-68, 71-99, 106-117, 126-144. 2003 *Larry Edsall, ''Ford GT, The Legend Comes to Life'', pp 69, 70, 72, 76, 112-114. 2004 *Frank Moriarty, ''Lead Foot, Iron Fist''. 2006, *John Clor, ''The Mustang Dynasty'', Chapter 7, "1994-2004". 2007, {{DEFAULTSORT:Coletti, John American automotive engineers Ford executives Living people 1949 births