You Can Finally Buy Saleen's 450-Horsepower Sports Car

Buyers can reserve the Saleen S1 Street with a refundable $1,000 deposit, while the pricier S1 Race targets track use only.

Nearly a decade after its debut, Saleen is finally letting customers put down a deposit on the S1 Street. The mid-engine sports car first appeared at the 2017 Los Angeles auto show, with rumors that it would go on sale shortly thereafter. But order books didn't officially open in the US until earlier this week.

Pricing starts at $160,000 for the road-legal car, and the deposit to reserve one is fully refundable. Buyers also get a few concrete performance claims to consider while they wait for an actual delivery date.

Saleen S1 Street

Photo by: Saleen

The S1 Street has a published starting price of $160,000 before options. Securing a build slot takes a $1,000 deposit. Saleen says that money comes back in full if a buyer walks away.

There is also a track-only sibling called the S1 Race, and it costs considerably more to reserve and to own. That car starts at $250,000, with a $2,000 refundable deposit. Both cars reportedly weigh 2,685 pounds at curb weight, which is light for anything with a six-figure price tag. Saleen has not confirmed whether it is a dry or wet weight figure.

Saleen says both the S1 Street and the S1 Race will be built at its Corona, California facility. The company has floated a first-year production target of 1,500 cars. That is an ambitious number for a low-volume builder that has relied on outside investment to keep programs moving.

Saleen states the road car hits 60 mph in 3.2 seconds and tops out at 171 mph. Output is rated at 450 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque, figures Saleen has repeated consistently since the original prototype's debut.

The S1 Race, by contrast, drops that sprint to 2.9 seconds and pushes top speed to 180 mph. Saleen hasn't detailed what mechanical changes differentiate the two cars beyond the obvious track preparation. The gap likely comes down to weight, aero, and tuning rather than a different engine tune altogether.

What do you think?

What Saleen hasn't said is just as important. There's no confirmed delivery window for the first customer S1 Streets, no powertrain architecture breakdown, and no word on whether the 1,500-unit target applies to the Street, the Race, or both combined.

The company is juggling other projects too, including a widebody Mustang it has been teasing while hunting for additional funding, a pattern familiar to anyone who followed Saleen's past crowd-sourced supercar design effort.