The Viper Is Once Again A Dodge And The SRT Brand Is Dead

[ViperSmith]

Exactly. Hopefully Dodge will put in the effort to make the Viper the halo car it is meant to be marketing and budget wise.

[Schen]

From what I've read, now that the car is a Dodge again it can now be sold overseas in large quantities I assume. I'll try to find out more.

--RS

[Simms]

The way I take it SRT is still SRT, just under Dodge.

The real question is will Tim fight for the Viper and keep it on track like Ralph did.

[v10CodeMonkey]

Maybe it's a regional thing. As I said above, I never, and I mean never, see a GC SRT8 anywhere except at shows. And that goes for Charger and 300 as well. They sure don't sell around here.

They seem to sell well around here, they get them on the floor and then they are gone shortly there after. By contrast, I see the BMW X5 M and other comparable (performance wise) vehicles sitting on the lots for months.

[Big Miata]

AHAHAHHAH I literally posted this like 3 or 4 weeks ago when the plant was shutting down. BIG BROTHER PULLS THE PLUG. There is no way fiat is gonna let them continue to lose money on the Viper even with Ralphs help. I know we are supposed to be optimistic but we will literally be lucky if they resume production. They will want to sell 20k 65k hellcat challengers all day long more than a 120k car they lose money on and will only sell 1k a year if they are lucky. I feel for Ralph because he probably went down kicking and screaming which is probably why all the tweets and stuff about him drag racing and the reflash and the road racing. He probably already knows that this car is going to be a made to order only. AND furthermore like all American made products today, it will need a deposit and you will have to wait for the build process to be done. You know what GOOD. It will make it that much more rare than the compromise sports car the Bette.

LONG LIVE AMERICAS ONLY EXOTIC

[ViperGTS]

Why would the 'name change' change anything?

From what I've read, now that the car is a Dodge again it can now be sold overseas in large quantities I assume. I'll try to find out more.

--RS

[Slaughterj]

Documentation there that the Viper is getting some kind of 2015 refresh even though we haven't seen it yet

Expect it to debut in some form at the Detroit homecoming.

[Joel]

Helping Dodge? Chrysler LLC are way up across the board. See this link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...243310211.html Don't get me wrong, I like SRT Dodges, Jeeps, and Chryslers but the bottom line is the whole SRT idea was stupid. In fact, charging dealers extra so they could be an SRT dealer to sell Vipers is probably one reason all the "SRT"s aren't doing better. Accolades to whoever put SRT as a separate brand to rest.

To add my .02. This may have just as much to do with helping Dodge... Keep that in mind. It goes both ways. They get the performance vehicles and more cars in their lineup, and SRT gets some cash and resources. As much as we all hate change with all that we've lived through, this is just the next evolution. Hang on!

[Schen]

Why would the 'name change' change anything?

that's what I'm trying to find out. Think about it, when was the last time a Gen V went to Europe, specifically the UK? Pretty sure our European friends are eager to get their hands on one. Other than a few in Dubai and one in Germany that's all the Gen V vipers that I know of that are outside North America.

and did we seriously bring up a V8 Viper again? Seriously? Can we just let that die already?

--RS

[ViperSmith]

I personally can't see any drawbacks to this change at all.

It gets the Viper more money, where a loss in a pool of 1000 Vipers for Dodge as a whole is nothing compared to a loss for SRT as a whole.

Better marketing, better presence, hopefully more R&D money.

Hey at least I own one of 1600 "SRT" vehicles now, no more ever made LOL

[Joel]

RS - we could let a V8 convertible - doesn't have to be a Viper - die but we still want a convertible. We could stick with a V10 but we don't have to. When Chrysler first made the Viper and had a V10 example, maybe not quite the same as the truck motor - available to put in the car it was a world beater. Now the technology to make a new engine with better performance is available. The question is, will Chrysler do it. Chrysler has the technology to build a car that competes with the Corvette and is better than the Corvette. Corvette has already sold 15,000 C7's. You're saying Chrysler can't compete with a V8 sports car - or you just don't want it to be a Viper?

that's what I'm trying to find out. Think about it, when was the last time a Gen V went to Europe, specifically the UK? Pretty sure our European friends are eager to get their hands on one. Other than a few in Dubai and one in Germany that's all the Gen V vipers that I know of that are outside North America.

and did we seriously bring up a V8 Viper again? Seriously? Can we just let that die already?

--RS

[SWEEN]

Guaranteed the 2015 Viper will get new headlights similar to the 2015 Charger/Challenger. Hopefully a small HP bump or something performance related, can't see much else happening. The green 2015 mule that some people got to drive had more airbags, so there is that too I guess.

Wonder why it took so long to announce a Dart SRT-4?

[Slaughterj]

The way I take it SRT is still SRT, just under Dodge.

Mostly it seems, though presumably the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT will continue, and continue under Jeep, not Dodge.

[bluesrt]

Guaranteed the 2015 Viper will get new headlights similar to the 2015 Charger/Challenger. Hopefully a small HP bump or something performance related, can't see much else happening. The green 2015 mule that some people got to drive had more airbags, so there is that too I guess.

Wonder why it took so long to announce a Dart SRT-4?

oh I would hate to see challenger headlights on a viper, lol- headlights will stay with the viper as they are

[kdaviper]

Guaranteed the 2015 Viper will get new headlights similar to the 2015 Charger/Challenger. Hopefully a small HP bump or something performance related, can't see much else happening. The green 2015 mule that some people got to drive had more airbags, so there is that too I guess.

Wonder why it took so long to announce a Dart SRT-4?

Guaranteed? Nothing is guaranteed in this industry, and nothing's official til it's official... especially not asinine assumptions like this. And til now, there was no powertrain combo suitable to make a DartSRT. Now that new Turbo 4's are in development, they have an idea of when they can implement them into a Dart SRT package.

[kdaviper]

AHAHAHHAH I literally posted this like 3 or 4 weeks ago when the plant was shutting down. BIG BROTHER PULLS THE PLUG. There is no way fiat is gonna let them continue to lose money on the Viper even with Ralphs help. I know we are supposed to be optimistic but we will literally be lucky if they resume production. They will want to sell 20k 65k hellcat challengers all day long more than a 120k car they lose money on and will only sell 1k a year if they are lucky. I feel for Ralph because he probably went down kicking and screaming which is probably why all the tweets and stuff about him drag racing and the reflash and the road racing. He probably already knows that this car is going to be a made to order only. AND furthermore like all American made products today, it will need a deposit and you will have to wait for the build process to be done. You know what GOOD. It will make it that much more rare than the compromise sports car the Bette.


LONG LIVE AMERICAS ONLY EXOTIC

Who's pulling the plug? And who said anything about 20k hellcat challengers? I'd bet they limit production to no more than 2000 units per year.
SRT's branding did help learn one thing: how to make low-volume products viable and how to ameliorate CAFE fines.

[hawk02]

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...per-dodge.html

[Big Miata]

see how long they limit the hellcats when the sales are there. This country is full of people who went to high school in the 70's and have the cash for a 55k to 65 k muscle car. And sorry I didn't specify 20k srt challengers/300c/chargers. Remember they are still sitting on probably at least a 17 month supply of vipers. How can a 2015 be built when they cant sell the current model. If I was 40 there would be a new viper in my garage. Im 29 so I have a gen II. It is the only car that doesn't care on the market. There are not enough of us kids that grew up seeing the gts as a new car with any money. Or let me re phrase that all the people my age are db's who buy a gt-r or m3 and put huge ass rims on it. The same as putting big wheels on your civic back in high school.

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

Now there wont be a logo battle over the new Formula One Chassis: SRT-01E

http://www.fiaformulae.com/guide/car

[Viper Girl]

Moving to older thread

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

Moving to older thread

GOOD JOB... can you also CLOSE the dupes after moving? Dilutes the conversation....

[SWEEN]

Guaranteed? Nothing is guaranteed in this industry, and nothing's official til it's official... especially not asinine assumptions like this.

It's not "asinine" at all, you probably just don't understand what I'm referring too. There were numerous criticisms about the Viper's LED head lights, that they were "Christmas Tree" like. The new Charger and Challenger has a new type of LED headlight. So the Viper's headlights will probably have the same shape but will incorporate this type of LED.

Challenger 2015 Headlight.jpg

2015 Charger Headlight.jpg

So yes, I guarantee that the Viper will have a similar line type of LED in the headlights, instead of the current configuration with multiple LEDs.

[Viper Girl]

I've never tried Jon... Because the name of the thread gets changed, to the one I merged to... it may delete the thread all together...

I'll go try with a test post... see what happens

[Patentlaw]

Helping Dodge? Chrysler LLC are way up across the board. See this link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...243310211.html Don't get me wrong, I like SRT Dodges, Jeeps, and Chryslers but the bottom line is the whole SRT idea was stupid. In fact, charging dealers extra so they could be an SRT dealer to sell Vipers is probably one reason all the "SRT"s aren't doing better. Accolades to whoever put SRT as a separate brand to rest.

The most factually correct and business oriented statement on this site in weeks. The facts are very simple. If SRT was making money, then why change it? The fact is that the rest of Chrysler had essentially double digit improvement. SRT did not.

It is a fact of corporate America. You are either a success or you fail. SRT failed. Those associated with the failure are now branded as failing. They will not be returned to power. If the person taking charge of the (now Dodge) products shows significant improvement, those who failed are even worse off.

It is funny how many on this site and the other one prostituted themselves to try to buddy up to those in power of SRT for some benefit. Egg on face.

[I Bin Therbefor]

SRT was intended to be the AMG or M brand of Chrysler. In that, the effort failed. Calling Dodge the performance line is different that having a performance brand that covers all of the Chrysler lines. We can speculate all we want as to why. The answer is somewhere in the dollars on some spreadsheet. Putting the Viper in the Dodge family will result in a Dodge Viper, maybe. The GTS models will disappear, and then the entire line. The reason for the first it that it was tough enough for the Dodge dealers to know how to sell a Viper GTS, the chances of them selling a Dodge Viper GTS are slim and none. The reason the whole line will disappear is that there aren't enough buyers of the stripped performance models to keep the line alive. Nor do the Dodge dealers understand the Viper. If they did, this wouldn't have happened. As for the racing program, the $s will go into NASCAR. That will help sell Dodges. For the SRT Viper to have succeeded required attracting an entirely new buyer in addition to keeping the current buyer. That didn't happen in sufficient volume to keep the SRT brand alive. As for Ralph, the "thank you" note simply means, "go style and shut up about performance lines." I would not be surprised to see the racing division fold into Dodge fairly quickly. The head of Dodge will make the argument that if Dodge is the performance division, then Dodge needs to control the racing program. I think Ralph is on the way out.