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I've been researching the new alternate modes for both the Autobots and Decepticons from the new film (I'm a big car fan) and have just realised something. Were we not told that only cars from General Motors car lines were going to be used? For the most part this seems correct, with Ratchet (Hummer), Ironhide (GMC), Jazz (Pontiac) and Bumblebee (Chevrolet) all being GM vehicles. But what about Barricade? He transforms into a Ford Mustang (a very cool one at that!) and last I heard Ford wasn't part of the GM group, although I could be mistaken! Can anyone shed some light on all this?

This also got me thinking about sequels (I know far too soon!) but if GM continue to corner the market so to speak, will this not cause problems with new Autobot characters? I want to see bots like Wheeljack and Tracks with cool car modes, yet I don't think Chevrolet or Pontiac have enough modern cool-looking sports cars to use (again I could be wrong!) They could always use the latest Corvette (of Alternator Tracks and Swerve fame!) and if that new Pontiac GTO ever sees the light of day it would be suitable too, but where to go from there?

All protagonists are GM because GM was very quick on the ball when VW denied the use of their cars (which also includes Porsche)

They sealed up a deal for all the protagonists they could.

As far as Barricade goes, no one really pays money to have the bad guy endorse your product...

Barricade is a Saleen Mustang. Not Ford.

DUDEATRICE wrote:Barricade is a Saleen Mustang. Not Ford.

it is a ford mustang its just saleen edition mustang....... like a rouche focus...... or a shelby mustang....or like the dodge's srt line.... oh and bumblebee is a saleen edition camero.... they basically are souped up and have bodykits

Cujo wrote:

DUDEATRICE wrote:Barricade is a Saleen Mustang. Not Ford.

it is a ford mustang its just saleen edition mustang....... like a rouche focus...... or a shelby mustang....or like the dodge's srt line.... oh and bumblebee is a saleen edition camero.... they basically are souped up and have bodykits

IIRC, Saleen Mustangs are scratchbuilt on their own production line (Saleen is officially an OEM), not modified stockers, hence no Ford badges or Mustang horses...

Are there a lot of police departments in the U.S. that issue Saleen Mustangs as cruisers? Police officers usually don't take law enforcement impersonation lightly. I mean, I'm sure the decorations would be a dead-giveaway anyhow but if you're trying to blend in it would seem about as sensible as painting flames on your big-rig.

Cujo wrote:

DUDEATRICE wrote:Barricade is a Saleen Mustang. Not Ford.

it is a ford mustang its just saleen edition mustang....... like a rouche focus...... or a shelby mustang....or like the dodge's srt line.... oh and bumblebee is a saleen edition camero.... they basically are souped up and have bodykits

Bumblebee in the movie isn't a Saleen Camaro, there is no such animal. Bumblebee is just a straight 2009 Camaro (although technically they only exist as prototypes, so Bumblebee is actually a Camaro body on a GTO).

on topic Bay used to do commercials for GM in that last POS he had a cadillac concept car the Cien. I dont know if Bay even approached any other manufacturers for the Autobots. Interesting note there are other exotic cars in one scene I.E. lamborghini and such but the Autobots except for prime's peterbuilt are all GM.

GrimlockZ28 wrote:

Cujo wrote:

DUDEATRICE wrote:Barricade is a Saleen Mustang. Not Ford.

it is a ford mustang its just saleen edition mustang....... like a rouche focus...... or a shelby mustang....or like the dodge's srt line.... oh and bumblebee is a saleen edition camero.... they basically are souped up and have bodykits

Bumblebee in the movie isn't a Saleen Camaro, there is no such animal. Bumblebee is just a straight 2009 Camaro (although technically they only exist as prototypes, so Bumblebee is actually a Camaro body on a GTO).

I knew about Barricade but I was lead to believe that Saleen was a tuning company that mearly modified cars and thus the Mustang is, at it's core, a Ford vehicle. Quote from Wikipedia: "Most of Saleen's vehicles are modified versions of existing mass produced sports cars such as the Ford Mustang. Saleen has produced over 8,000 modified Mustangs since its inception. It also produces modified versions of the Ford Focus and other Ford models."

I know Bumblebee is the current Camaro concept car due to enter mass production in towards the end of 2008 for sale in 2009.

What I don't know much about is Prime's truck mode. Some sites list him as a Kenworth, while others have (just like Phategod1 has said) listed him as a Peterbilt. Are these trucks the same with different names depending on region? Or is it the same case as with Barricade, where the truck was originally mass produced by one company and then modified by another?

So you basically resolved the argument.

Ford does not build the Saleen mustang so it's not a Ford.

Saleen modifies the car and makes it it's own. Therefore it's a Saleen mustang. Not Ford.

Just because Mission modifies the original Rollerblade design doesn't make it still a Rollerblade...see where I'm going?

Here's another theory. Since GM knew that Bay wanted to use the Concept Camaro really bad. They probably insisted that he used GM vehiciles for the other autobots, if not, then no Camaro.

DUDEATRICE wrote:So you basically resolved the argument.

Ford does not build the Saleen mustang so it's not a Ford.

Saleen modifies the car and makes it it's own. Therefore it's a Saleen mustang. Not Ford.

Just because Mission modifies the original Rollerblade design doesn't make it still a Rollerblade...see where I'm going?

Correctamundo.

Although we did see a Saleen plate on the Camaro. Could Saleen begin to tune Camaro's? Of course!

GetterDragun wrote:

DUDEATRICE wrote:So you basically resolved the argument.

Ford does not build the Saleen mustang so it's not a Ford.

Saleen modifies the car and makes it it's own. Therefore it's a Saleen mustang. Not Ford.

Just because Mission modifies the original Rollerblade design doesn't make it still a Rollerblade...see where I'm going?

Correctamundo.

Although we did see a Saleen plate on the Camaro. Could Saleen begin to tune Camaro's? Of course!

I FREAKIN SAW THAT TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hence my saleen camaro theory so

Cujo wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:

DUDEATRICE wrote:So you basically resolved the argument.

Ford does not build the Saleen mustang so it's not a Ford.

Saleen modifies the car and makes it it's own. Therefore it's a Saleen mustang. Not Ford.

Just because Mission modifies the original Rollerblade design doesn't make it still a Rollerblade...see where I'm going?

Correctamundo.

Although we did see a Saleen plate on the Camaro. Could Saleen begin to tune Camaro's? Of course!

I FREAKIN SAW THAT TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hence my saleen camaro theory so

From what I read in car magazines (my other passion), Saleen didn't do anything on the movie Camaros, however, Steve Saleen has said that Saleen will be doing Camaros when the new body style hits.

AbsumZer0 wrote:Are there a lot of police departments in the U.S. that issue Saleen Mustangs as cruisers? Police officers usually don't take law enforcement impersonation lightly. I mean, I'm sure the decorations would be a dead-giveaway anyhow but if you're trying to blend in it would seem about as sensible as painting flames on your big-rig.

It all depends on the police department in a given city. Some of the smaller towns allow an officer, especially a traffic officer, the ability to buy their own car, have everything added to it that they need and then the officer is reimbursed the cost. I know an officer that did this with a Camaro a few years back. There is another officer that did this with a Trans Am and it looks great. I doubt you'd ever see a Saleen Mustang, but I have seen some great looking out of the normal cars.

You might also notice that some Police Departments do this with their motorcycles. The officer buys the motorcycle and has the police package put on it and painted. In some towns you will notice different model Harleys and Yamahas among other bikes all being used at the same time.

While these cars aren't necessarily used in actual law enforcement they do a have an orginization that uses muscle cars as a teaching/public relations tool:http://www.beattheheatinc.org/cops.html