Altair Engineering Unveils Radical STREET Ford Focus Concept Vehicle
New Ford Focus STREET concept vehicle and aftermarket body kit to be unveiled at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, NV., November 2, 2004, - Today, Altair Engineering, Inc., a global leader recognized for innovative product development, advanced engineering software and grid computing technology, unveiled the Ford Focus STREET Concept Vehicle. The concept vehicle and aftermarket package was designed and developed by Altair in conjunction with Bayer MaterialScience, PPG, and Interior Trim Systems.
Altair Racing Technologies, a high-performance vehicle development team at Altair, presented Ford with an unsolicited dollar car program proposal and vehicle concept earlier in the year to demonstrate the street aftermarket opportunities for the Ford Focus. Under the design direction of Ken Grant, Altair Creative Design Director, and Paul Arnone, Altair Chief Designer, Ford granted the program in mid-June.
"Street racing and performance tuning is a multi-billion dollar industry and I wanted to demonstrate Altair’s design capabilities with the Focus STREET" says Ken Grant, Creative Director at Altair Engineering. "We worked with the industries best in the development of this car, and I want to thank all of our partners in helping to produce this vehicle. SEMA is the premier show for companies like Altair to showcase our tremendous knowledge and skill sets to the automotive community as a whole."
Altair’s Focus has a very distinctive transparent panoramic roof and tailgate design made from Bayer MaterialScience’s Makrolon
® polycarbonate glazing. Interior modifications include two-tone leather seats, steering wheel and gear shift lever. Additionally PPG provided Paint and Solextra
® Performance Glass for the car. Chassis components and gauges were provided by Ford Racing.
"Bayer is very pleased to be able to work in partnership with Altair on the concept STREET Focus for SEMA" said Paul Platte, Manager, Industry Innovation - Automotive, Bayer MaterialScience. "One of the constraints that Altair presented was the need for the polycarbonate pieces to have mass production capabilities and we were able to achieve this successfully. Bayer had a keen interest in demonstrating to the automotive world the styling freedom that polycarbonate grants beyond what glass shapes can create. We are very excited to be part of Altair’s Focus unveiling and to reveal our collective capabilities."
PPG is pleased to contribute Solextra
® blue automotive glass and refinish coatings to the Altair Ford Focus. Solextra
® glass imparts a subtle, yet crisp and distinctive look to the vehicle above the beltline. In addition, it provides excellent solar performance. Solextra
® glass is commercial and is currently on select Mercedes C and E class vehicles.
Vehicle Specifications Include:
Base Vehicle
* 2005 Ford Focus ZX5 SES
* 2.0L i4 engine
* 5-speed manual transmission
Powertrain
* Borla Performance Exhaust
Chassis
* Coilovers by Ford Racing
* Eibach Anti-Roll Kit
* Brakes by Ford Racing
Wheels & Tires
* 18" RS wheels by Ford Racing
* 215/40/18 tires by TOYO
Exterior
* Appearance package created and developed by Altair
* Makrolon
® polycarbonate roof and backlight developed by Altair in partnership with Bayer MaterialScience
* Solextra
® Performance Glass and Paint by PPG
* Aluminum Fuel Door by Ford Racing
Interior
* Seat Trim by Classic Soft Trim
* Gauges by Ford Racing
* Additional Trim by Altair and Interior Trim Systems
About Altair Engineering
Through product design consulting, advanced engineering software and high performance computing technologies, Altair Engineering increases innovation for clients around the globe. Founded in 1985 and privately held with offices throughout 11 countries, Altair's unparalleled knowledge and expertise in product development and manufacturing extend throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As the developer of Altair® HyperWorks® - The Engineering Framework for Product DesignTM, Altair is the leading provider of high-end, open CAE software solutions for modeling, visualization, optimization and process automation. The company’s grid computing software, PBS ProTM, is a workload management solution for high performance computing environments, LINUX clusters and desktop cycle harvesting that delivers an ROI within one year. For detailed information about Altair, visit
www.altair.com