Case Study: Ford Motor Company achieves SEMA-ready Focus STREET transformation in six weeks with Altair

Technology partners collaborate in style to deliver a specialty vehicle based on the Ford Focus platform

Ford Motor Company needed a specialty Ford Focus ready for the 2004 SEMA show on an aggressive six‑week timeline and engaged Altair to provide industrial design, program management and a ground‑effects/body‑kit solution. The project had to meet aftermarket constraints—very low tooling cost, extremely fast design cycles, edgy styling above the belt line, and ease of installation—while transforming a stock vehicle into a distinctive show car.

Altair led a rapid, collaborative build using concept sketches, clay modeling, epoxy tooling and final part fabrication, integrating Bayer’s Makrolon polycarbonate glazing and PPG’s Solextra glass alongside Ford Racing components to realize the Ford Focus STREET. The program delivered a show‑ready vehicle in six weeks, won Ford’s “Excellence in Design” prize, and demonstrated measurable benefits—most notably a 40–50% mass reduction for the polycarbonate glazing versus glass—validating Altair’s fast, low‑cost aftermarket approach.

Ford Motor Company