wanna911

The Viper has never made money for Dodge/Chrysler, which is why it's scheduled to end production without a replacement. Take the political nonsense to OT.

Veloce Raptor

Actually, I was told by someone at Dodge (pre-FIAT) who was/is directly involved with the Viper program that they have made a profit on every Viper ever sold. That said, the development costs to make a successor car that would be a world-beater in the current supercar world & this economy are likely why no successor car has been identified.






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wanna911

Making money on each car sold, and the brand being profitable is two different things especially considering how many of the 03-06 SRT-10's went unsold with the increased production numbers. I still don't buy that they would have been trying to sell of a car that was making money. I do not think the Viper as a whole was profitable as from what I read they were trying to liquidate it at a hefty discount.

Sounds like a validation for the program to continue, but if it wasn't costing Dodge anything while simultaneously promoting the performance aspect of the company it seems Dodge would have sold something else first.

That's very hard to believe though I know you can't believe everything you read, however all signs point to the opposite.

Veloce Raptor

All true. It's also possible I was misinformed out of bravado & brand loyalty!






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Chads996

+1 Pure awesomeness.

Daddy want in a big way. Yummmm...



C.

85Gold

Shows the value of a lot of downforce.

Peter

VERBOTN

The real cool thing about those cars is that you can feel them coming especially when in pack formation. Tremendous fun when a freightrain hauls @ss thru Bishops and you are next to it. For me just a few seconds but man you could feel the energy coming off those things.

924RACR

Oh, that's a good one! The ZR1's already knockin' on it's door... and if you think the engineers lack imagination on what to do with the car now... just wait...

Steve113

Bye the way Viper is one of the only brands that has been profitable (maybe not by large numbers ) for Chrysler. Thats why there were so many players that wanted to buy it

And the car at Sebring had the exact motor and HP that will be in the X production run. The new Viper series will have a Cup format and should be awesome.

Veloce Raptor

Mmm-kay...

And I'm sure the weight is exactly the same, too.






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Steve113

I know the SRT guys who were at Sebring (just met with them in Detroit Sat. night on there way back from Sebring) and the new pres/ceo the car was the real deal . Real motor and real weight as published. The car was insanely fast. Faster then was even expected

Veloce Raptor

I am sorry if I have a dim view of claims made just as order books open. There is too much of this in Nordschleife tests, too, with alleged "production" numbers that turn out to have been "enhanced" to get a publishable result that drives sales.

I mean...I am sure CEO's never ever shade the truth, do they?






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TRAKCAR

I was at Sebring, that Viper was FAAAST!

Looks awesome and will do for the Viper brand what Cup cars and GT3's do for Porsche!
They were handing out sales packets, for 100K I think you get a fantastic deal.

wanna911

All the interested parties and yet once Chrysler actually put a for sale sign up on the plant, they got nothing but a 5.5 million offer from a bread maker. Sorry but I you can buy that line if you want, Chrysler had gotten down to only asking 10 million for the whole brand, plant included and couldn't sell it.

Not only that selling 435 units in 07 and likely less in 08 and 09. How can you even recoup the development costs of the facelift with that let alone the complete redesign.

Not only that, they ATE a bunch of 05's and 06's that were sitting on lots when they released the 08's. (note that even after skipping a year of production they still had plenty of old inventory).

I don't know who's feeding the "profit" stats, but it wreaks of a lie. I am a fan of the Viper and hope it lives on, but lets be real here.

67FJ45

True. This particular halo car doesn't make money. The corporate guys (and I know because I am one) can "re-allocate" funds to make it appear profitable. For instance, R&D and SG&A specific to the car can be charged to corporate in the name of "halo" marketing, reducing the product's below-the-line cost.