Saleen S1 finally takes orders, nine years and $60,000 after its debut
Steve Saleen's mid-engined sports car returns at $160,000 with a refundable deposit
Saleen Automotive has opened reservations for the S1, the mid-engined coupé it unveiled at the LA Auto Show in November 2017 and never delivered. The road-going S1 Street starts at $160,000 with a refundable $1,000 deposit, the track-only S1 Race at $250,000. Both will be built in Corona, California, but Saleen has not said when the first customer car arrives.
Saleen S1 Street costs $160,000 and the S1 Race $250,000
The S1 Street is the road car and starts at $160,000, before options, taxes and any tariffs, with a $1,000 deposit that Saleen describes as fully refundable. The S1 Race is a track-only version at $250,000, reserved with $2,000, and Saleen claims it reaches 96 km/h in 2.9 seconds and 290 km/h flat out. Both are built at the company's base in Corona, California, and Saleen plans 1,500 cars in the first year. The car is priced and sold for the American market; Saleen has said nothing about European homologation or sales.
The S1's 2.5-litre turbo four now makes 450 hp and 576 Nm
The S1 Street uses a Saleen-developed 2.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, mounted transversely behind the cabin and driving the rear wheels. Power is unchanged from 2017 at 450 hp, but torque has risen from 475 Nm to 576 Nm, and the claimed 0-96 km/h time has dropped from 3.5 to 3.2 seconds, with a top speed of 275 km/h. An aluminium chassis and carbon-fibre body keep the weight at 1,218 kg. Buyers choose between a six-speed manual and a paddle-shift automatic. A light, manual, mid-engined coupé is a rarer thing every year: Alpine has ended production of the A110.
Saleen promised the S1 for $100,000 and deliveries by mid-2018
When the S1 was revealed in 2017, Saleen priced it at $100,000, took $1,000 deposits, promised deliveries from the summer of 2018 and said it would build 1,500 cars a year, almost entirely in-house. None of that happened. By 2023 the company website still listed the S1 as coming soon, at $120,000. Today's $160,000 is 60 percent above the original price, while two things have not moved at all: the $1,000 deposit and the 1,500-car annual target. The difference this time is that the car has spent the intervening years racing rather than sitting in a showroom.
Saleen's Chinese venture in Rugao collapsed in 2020
The S1 arrived in the same year Saleen formed Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Technology with the Chinese city of Rugao and partner Charlie Wang, to build and sell Saleen cars in China. The venture's factory closed in February 2020 and its assets were seized after Chinese authorities alleged that Wang had embezzled nearly $1 billion in state funds. Its only series model, the Maimai electric city car, had sold 27 units by April 2021, and a court put the company up for auction in May 2022. Saleen's American operation in Corona carried on building tuned Mustangs and Ford trucks.
A Saleen Cup and two investment rounds kept the S1 alive
Saleen kept the car in public view through motorsport. A one-make Saleen Cup with SRO ran S1 race cars in 2019, though the 2020 season was cancelled the weekend before its opening event. The money came partly from fans: a 2023 public investment campaign valued Saleen at $34.48 million and raised more than $1 million, and a second round opened in June 2026, starting at $500 a share package. Deposits with small manufacturers carry real risk, as buyers who paid Hedley Studios for a Porsche 550 replica discovered when the firm entered administration.
AutoNext Take
The S1 deserves to reach customers. A 1,218 kg mid-engined coupé with 450 hp and a manual gearbox is precisely the car larger makers have stopped building, and nine years of racing have made it quicker than its 2017 promise. The caveat is everything around the car: the price is 60 percent higher, the production target has not moved, and the delivery date is still missing.
Saleen should name that date before the end of 2026, because a 1,500-car first year means little without one, and a refundable $1,000 deposit is the fair way to ask for patience until then. If the first S1 Street reaches a customer in 2027, Saleen will have built the rare boutique comeback that kept its promise late rather than not at all.
