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June 21, 2016 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - The Dodge brand is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Dodge Viper with five limited-edition models that commemorate the final year of Viper production [/U]and highlight several of the most iconic special edition Vipers of the past.
"The Dodge Viper has had a great run, and 25 years after it was first introduced, it leaves the supercar world reaching for the records it continues to set," said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Cars, Dodge, SRT, Chrysler, and Fiat – FCA, North America.
I guess this makes our 63 year heritage of the Corvette brand all that more 'special'.
Hopefully they decide to go back to the drawing board and rethink the Viper's limited market. High Price/V10/Lack of an Auto. The Corvette and Viper make each other better IMO.
didn't they just come out with a new one? lol and now they are stopping production?
They had no choice but to discontinue the Viper. To meet the new safety standards, they would have to redesign the cabin for more head room because of side air bags.
I don't think they have the potential sales to warrant that kind of investment.
The cars front A pillar cannot hold an airbag so it cant meet the new safety regulation. I do not think this will be the end of the viper, just this viper which is the same platform at the Gen 3 model.
I love the viper as much as my corvette. Growing up I originally wanted the SRT-10 viper in 2003. But seems everytime we turn around they are killing the production.
didn't they just come out with a new one? lol and now they are stopping production?
Correct. They fixed all the complaints people had (crappy interior, etc) and it still sold awful. They had no choice but to call it a sales failure and shut it down.
The Viper is a case study in what an awesome car should be. It's powerful, raw, and it requires a lot of driving skill to go fast. And since most auto journalists can't drive worth a crap, they universally panned it. Too bad for them!
I for one love that they didn't change their formula. V10 up front, RWD out back, 6 speed stick. Would an automatic/DSG have helped sales? Probably. What would have really helped is it not being $100k+, it just was too expensive for the economy and not brand snobby enough for the people with the money for it.
It's a sad day, over-regulation from our government have killed the most American of all the cars.
Hopefully they decide to go back to the drawing board and rethink the Viper's limited market. High Price/V10/Lack of an Auto. The Corvette and Viper make each other better IMO.
It's amazing how simplistic this sort of idea is right? Un-warranted limited market in this segment I feel also is why the Viper is having a hard time selling.
It's not that Chrysler hasn't looked into other options with the Viper chassis. Does anyone remember the Chrysler Firepower! concept? (exclamation point is part of the name). That was a V8 RWD car on a Viper chassis largely utilizing existing Chrysler components and was an attempt to show that Chrysler could potential develop a sports car implementing hybrid technologies on an existing platform. It went nowhere, but that in itself is what is sad.
The Corvette has an exceptionally wide potential buyer base and price range. You can go everywhere from a $50,000 1LT car all the way up to a Z06 Z07 equipped monster that can top out $120,000. It's ultimately all about what you want to spend. Granted it took some time for GM to realize that more people want automatics than enthusiasts tell you people do, but when people are willing to buy a fully loaded Z06 with an automatic you give them what they want.
It's thus no secret that the current C7 is such a hot selling Corvette over more recent predecessors.
The American pony segment is in a similar boat. Mustang? Camaro? Challenger? All can be catered to pretty much any buyer.
When you have such a limited market for a car that shouldn't have such a limited market it's no wonder Dodge has a hard time pushing them. It's also no secret that Dodge couldn't have expanded the market some. The first Vipers utilized the same six speed that eventually found it's way into the C5 and the Cobra. If that architecture could work across platforms an automatic could have worked? Would that have possibly diminished the image of the car? Possibly. Would it have expanded the potential buyer market? No doubt.
The Viper is an exceptional piece of American automobilia and it's most unfortunate to see it go.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C1 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2017 Corvette of the Year Finalist
2016 C2 of Year
2015 C3 of Year Finalist
I think the Viper will be back. They suspended production before and then began making them again. Having both Corvettes and Vipers being made definitely makes each better. I thought long and hard about a new ACR but bought a new Z06 last week instead. Kept my Gen 2 GTS. The Vipers are very distinctive out on the road and a blast to drive. I really hope they return in the future
The Viper's demise is sad, but not unexpected.
The car was simply too single purpose for it's own good. It was fast/handled well/etc but all of it's other foibles were too much for anyone other than the faithful to accept/deal with. And there have never been enough of the "faithful" to sustain the car. Even as the car rolls into the sunset, it's not selling. In spite of the ACR release, they have sold only 241 Vipers January through May 2016.
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19
Just looked at pic of the Special Editions. I like the 2017 snakeskin version (on the left) the best. Getting a Viper still remains on my list of things to buy after my daughter graduates college!
Last edited by 68ragtop69; 06-24-2016 at 03:26 PM.
06-22-2016, 02:27 PM
2017 the Viper is done
