I was wandering the net the other day when I came across BusinessWeek Online’s list of the best American cars. This caught my eye:

I don’t usually talk about supercars in this blog but the Saleen is a special case, being American. The company produces several Ford-based models, variants of the Focus and Mustang, but the S7 is top of the range and a match for any European supercar. It may not have a V12 but its 7 liter V8 produces 750 bhp, more than enough to see off the competition.

As far as looks goes, the S7 easily holds its own too. It has that classic mid-engined style that is so easy on the eye whatever the decade. Admittedly, it suffers a bit from “intake obsession” but the basic lines are so good that this does not detract. It’s a design worthy of any Italian styling house.

With that amount of power the S7 delivers in performance terms too; it is reputed to be the fastest production car of all at the moment and hits 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. That’s serious motoring.

Naturally, the company races the S7 and it won the LMES race at Spa in May this year. That’s against the best opposition Europe can put up and on one of their classic circuits too.

The Saleen is the best American foray into the supercar league in years. If you want to learn more, or even place an order (a mere $580,000 will get you the S7), have a look at the company’s website. It’s a Flash tour de force, of course, with music, videos and interviews - well worth a look.