From C/D Interview

[I Bin Therbefor]

C/D: What’s your line on Viper sales? Obviously, they’re a little bit lower than you might have hoped.

RG: Yes, but the mix is much richer than I expected. The transaction prices are far, far higher than we anticipated. A lot more people are going for the GTS, the average transaction price is well into the $130Ks, high $130Ks—so we’re like, “whoa!” So we’ve sold less, but in the end we’ve actually made about the same money [as we expected]. It’s a very high average, so I’m very pleased. I think the network is learning how to sell cars, it’s just a very different clientele that we’re seeing. We’re trying to help the network out with better packages, packages they can understand. Because you don’t want to custom order and stock a vehicle, you want to let the customer order it. So we’re trying to get that process under way.

C/D: Do you have demo cars in the dealers?

RG: Yes, we have a demo program. We have about 80 takers so far. And our network is quite large—larger than it needs to be for the volume we’re after. And please help me clear this up: We have no interest in competing with Corvette. Never have. You’re going to see Corvettes at every 7-11 and on every street corner. That’s not us. We are really an exotic, we’ve always wanted to be—that’s all we ever wanted to be. I struggle with the comparisons.

C/D: It’s so natural, though. Rear-drive sports coupe, American, big-ass engine—

RG: Ours is a really big-ass engine.

A few observations:
The buying pattern seems to be typical of when something new is introduced. The early adopters jump on the product and pay premium price to be the first to have one.
I am very happy that the business results are about as expected although through a different sales mix. Revenue means $s for further development.
Working to make packages that the buyers and dealers understand is good. Fits the model of short runs of a lot of variety.
Those wanting basic Vipers do not seem to have put their money on the table.
The new buyers who wanted up scale Vipers did put their money on the table.
Demos are available.
There are still too many dealers. The shake out Ralph predicted is still in process.
I love a "really big ass motor"
The lack of an AT sounds like sour grapes to me
A vert, an AT and a performance model would be good product refreshers
\

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

Not available on a vette: "Really Big-Ass V-10 motor"

Sing along with me............ "I like big motors, and I cannot lie......."