- Shelby SuperCars, the tiny sports-car maker based in southeastern Washington State, has a new name: SSC North America.
- In a settlement reached with Carroll Shelby Licensing and its corporate parent Carroll Shelby International, SSC North America founder Jerod Shelby - no relation to Carroll Shelby - agreed to drop his family name from the company name.
- SSC last year unveiled the Tuatara concept, the successor to the SSC Ultimate Aero and the car with which Jerod Shelby hopes to reclaim the world's-fastest-car crown from the Bugatti Veyron.
WEST RICHLAND, Washington — Shelby SuperCars, the tiny sports-car maker based in southeastern Washington State, has a new name: SSC North America.
In a settlement reached with Carroll Shelby Licensing and its corporate parent Carroll Shelby International, SSC North America founder Jerod Shelby agreed to drop his family name from the company name.
Jerod Shelby is not related to Carroll Shelby, the famed sports-car builder and former Ford racecar driver and one of the best-known names in motorsport and high-performance automobiles for decades.
SSC last year unveiled the Tuatara concept, the successor to the SSC Ultimate Aero and the car with which Jerod Shelby hopes to reclaim the world's-fastest-car crown from the Bugatti Veyron.
Named for a New Zealand lizard, the Tuatara was penned by Jason Castriota, former design chief at Bertone and Saab. The car will be powered by a mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged 7.0-liter V8 said to deliver around 1,350 horsepower. It will drive the rear wheels through either a conventional seven-speed manual gearbox or a seven-speed sequential box with paddle shifters.
The car features a carbon-fiber body wrapped around carbon subframes and aluminum crash structures. The wheels also are constructed of carbon fiber.
Inside Line says: Better that SSC goes under a new name than constantly answering questions about what it's not.
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stovt001 says:
06:40 PM, 01/29/2012
@sinna46: they're in the same exact industry (and even almost the same niche) so it is perfectly reasonable that only one should use the Shelby name. I've seen plenty of otherwise well-informed people confuse the two. Plenty of people have the last name of Ford. If one of them went into the business, do you think they could start a company called Ford Super Cars?
sinna46 says:
03:38 PM, 01/27/2012
His name is Jerod Shelby he should be able to call his company Shelby SuperCars. If he called it Carol Shelby SuperCars then I could see the problem, but that is not the case.
Is the old chicken farmer now claiming the IP to "SuperCars" too? He has claimed "Cobra" and "Daytona"... why not SuperCars?
I wonder if it was a garbage can company named Shelby SuperCans if he would sue them?
Get over it old man!
stovt001 says:
12:45 PM, 01/27/2012
+1 to dagmar3, but for once I think Carroll had a valid argument with this case.
kkear3 says:
10:43 AM, 01/27/2012
Like we will ever see one. Vaporware.
agnh says:
08:43 AM, 01/27/2012
Do I think he should be legally forced to changed the company name? No.
Do I think he should have come up with a different name to begin with? Yes.
dagmar3 says:
08:38 AM, 01/27/2012
You can't be a "somebody" in the automotive biz unless Carroll Shelby has sued you.