He entered the Formula Atlantic series where, in 1980, he finished third in the final standings behind eventual champion Jacques Villeneuve.

On March 13, 2008, Steve Saleen announced the formation of "SMS Supercars Archived 2021-02-28 at the Wayback Machine", Lifestyle Performance Automobiles.

Through the years of building the reputation behind each automotive company brand, Saleen maintained close participation throughout product development, sales and marketing.

[4][5][6][7][8] Charlie Wang was a lawyer who had worked at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, from which he abruptly resigned, and then was CEO of Hybrid Kinetic Motors before its owner Yang Rong sued him for re-issuing shares of the company under Wang's own control, and subsequently founded and was CEO of GreenTech Automotive, before it went bankrupt.

[11] CEO Wang said: "We have adopted highly efficient intelligent production, which will make us one of the very few to do so in China," and that the company would "produce all sorts of passenger cars including sedans, SUVs, and crossovers.

[13] The company's only mass-produced model that it sold was the low-end pure electric microcar called the "MaiMai", with a maximum speed of 100 km/h and a new European driving cycle range of 305 km, which was introduced in 2019.

[18] In August 2020, Steve claimed Chinese government of Jiangsu Province - Rugao filed his 500+ patent without consent and he was ripped off in the intellectual property battle during his JV business in China.