With owners still awaiting delivery of their prized Ford GT supercars, the blue-oval brand has unveiled its next supercar.
With appetites at Detroit whetted by the enormous demand and attention given to the GT, Ford has gone ahead with plans for a 605 bhp V10 retro supercar concept which should enter production shortly after the last GT rolls off the line in 2006.
The Ford Shelby GR-1 - which stands for Group Racer 1 - will be a front-engined rear-wheel-drive model powered by a 6.4-litre V10.
The car has been designed by George Saridakis, head of Ford's Advanced Design studio in California, but bears strong European influences, in particular links to 1960s and 1970s Italian supercars. This is actually the second run out of Ford's GT follow-up.
In Detroit, Ford revealed the Shelby Cobra concept to very mixed reviews and reports claim that it was scrapped in favour of this new concept.
At the GR-1 concept's unveiling in California last week, J Mays, Ford group's vice president of global design described the Shelby Cobra concept as "a small step in our plans for the Ford GT supercar architecture and our relationship with Carroll Shelby", but went on to say that the Ford Shelby GR-1 "is a giant leap toward the future".
The Shelby name refers to the agreement between Ford and former racing driver Carroll Shelby some 42 years ago to build performance cars.
The two firms returned to collaboration in the design of the Ford GT.