Where's Ralph ???

[plumcrazy]

Havent heard anything about him or seen him on any vids or tv shows since the change. kind of bothers me...hes a good guy

this isnt a wheres waldo thread LOL

[daytonprowler]

Being the Senior Vice President of Design at Chrysler, I hope one of the things he is overseeing is the Gen V RT/10 that we just saw in the documentary video.

[ACRucrazy]

Havin a ball with Hellcats?

[daytonprowler]

Here is an article on Ralph from yesterday's Detroit Free Press:


http://www.freep.com/story/money/car...sign/21426551/

[plumcrazy]

lol, hes not nearly as excited about the stupid 200 as he was about the viper....

[SlateEd]

lol, hes not nearly as excited about the stupid 200 as he was about the viper....

haha so true. Although he did tell me in NYC that I should check out the C 200 S for a DD if I like Audi-style handling and ride... I told him I was holding out for the new SRT-4... better hurry :-)

[01sapphirebob]

Being the Senior Vice President of Design at Chrysler, I hope one of things he is overseeing is the Gen V RT/10 that we just saw in the documentary video.

This X1000!

[gfviperman]

Recently test drove a 200, it is a VERY nice car.

Wife and I were stunned ...

[daytonprowler]

The Chrysler portfolio is very good. Nice selection of cars, trucks, and SUVs. They can't all be Vipers.

I would like to see a Challenger or Barracuda convertible introduced.

[GBS]

Here is an article on Ralph from yesterday's Detroit Free Press:


http://www.freep.com/story/money/car...sign/21426551/

Looks exactly like the 200 I purchased for my mother in November. Not a bad car. She really like it.

[sparkrn]

lol, hes not nearly as excited about the stupid 200 as he was about the viper....

Car s can't be stupid, but people can!

[GasGas]

Here is an article on Ralph from yesterday's Detroit Free Press:


http://www.freep.com/story/money/car...sign/21426551/

When asked what else he would like to do beyond overseeing car design, Gilles said he would consider a job in another region.

"I have had some other jobs that have come and gone but I have not had an international assignment," he said. "I am curious about Asia in particular. There is nothing like living in a country and taking in the culture."

One of the many thing he would be giving up ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1BZSStUli8

[FLATOUT]

Interesting, I hope he sticks around he's my favorite "car guy". He's still active on Instagram.

[Coloviper]

Awesome Video! Usually when someone requests or would like to be completely removed, like to another division in another continent, the fire behind the smoke is typically escapism. Personally think he was undeserving Fall Guy for a lot of bad behaviour of a lot of others.

Very talented, honest person! Personally would like to see him leave Dodge/FCA and go somewhere his talents will be embraced to further another two seater Vobra/Viper like car. Could really use that at a Ford or even a Tesla for a revived Ford Cobra or Tesla Electric Eel (EE). FCA really used him up and burnt him out.

[serpent]

More of the blame should have went to Beth Paretta, or how ever the hell you spell her name.

Notice how much better marketing the viper has gotten? Its in a hellcat commercial with the challenger and charger (short time though).
The one of one program
the 20+ minute video of the viper
the car is finally getting its shine in the limelight, now that beth was fired.

Anyways, I could see ralph moving on to perhaps a lateral move into an international region and eventually coming back, like the previous chief svt engineer from ford hau thai-tang. Hau started out as a race engineer in the early 90s. Now hes a group VP and in charge of global purchasing.

Anyways it would be cool to see a gear head and a track guy like ralph still in the scene. Maybe him moving to ford or Tesla would be wonderful for those brands. I wonder if toyota could use a guy like him? (Not that they need help with sales)

[swexlin]

Interesting, I hope he sticks around he's my favorite "car guy". He's still active on Instagram.

I've met and spoken with Ralph a few times at Carlisle. He chatted and length with both the Viper crowd and the LX/LY crowd. A true car guy, and a regular dude to boot! How many senior level execs at car companies hang out at shows with us regular schmoes?

[ViperSmith]

Tim is now in charge of Viper, thus Ralph has little (outwards) to do with it. I assume Ralph is in charge of design of the "RT/10" we saw in the latest video.

Shame, he was quite a car guy - though that doesn't mean he was a great CEO. Passion is good, but thats not always everything in business. But, I really don't know how much flexibility Ralph had with the brand anyway, it seems as if he was set to fail from the get go (hampered from the parent brands).

Nice person, great passion, but alas doesn't always translate to sales.

[theviper]

More of the blame should have went to Beth Paretta, or how ever the hell you spell her name.

+1. Look at her social media profiles. She makes herself out to be some amazing marketer. I already feel sorry for the next company that will be stuck with her.

[TooBlue]

Interesting, I hope he sticks around he's my favorite "car guy". He's still active on Instagram.

I saw Ralph on Instagram yesterday showing his daughter the driving line on his private go kart track at his house.

[LeadfootRT10]

Tim is now in charge of Viper, thus Ralph has little (outwards) to do with it. I assume Ralph is in charge of design of the "RT/10" we saw in the latest video.

What video was this??? the 22 minute one, DNA of supercar?

[Slithr]

What video was this??? the 22 minute one, DNA of supercar?

Yes @ 2:27

[LeadfootRT10]

Yes @ 2:27

Thanks! That is so cool, i'm disappointed that i missed that!

I don't think a clay model is indicative of a future production vehicle, and i would be surprised they would go back to a targa style top especially after seeing the Medusa with a traditional soft top. I would have thought that if they went with a targa it would be with the glass hatch of the GTS like the Corvettes have.....

But HEY! i love a good surprise!

[Dman]

I hope he's working the Targa project.

The draft design from VOI12 that he showed was just like the Medusa, if they are really doing the RT/10 style, that makes much more sense for Prefix to do the Medusa, since a true vert would never come from the factory. Could also make sense in the Targa being easier to do than a full vert, with no soft-top mechanicals to deal with, etc., just a manually placed roof piece and a folding soft roof for trunk storage - like the 911's had. Seems much easier than a full out vert redesign.

I somehow was very lucky to meet Ralph 4 times and talk to him for as long as almost an hour, definitely a great car guy, but I too wonder how much of a true CEO he was, I think he had his arms & legs tied while given a title and thrown into the waters. The gen5 was a perfect survival of the viper IMO, only flaw was the launch, which was done by a marketing team .. who knows how much power Ralph had to control that ... they should all be tied & thrown into the deep end.

[Murpowa]

Happy birthday Ralph!

[2doorrocket]

More of the blame should have went to Beth Paretta, or how ever the hell you spell her name.

Notice how much better marketing the viper has gotten? Its in a hellcat commercial with the challenger and charger (short time though).
The one of one program
the 20+ minute video of the viper
the car is finally getting its shine in the limelight, now that beth was fired.

Anyways, I could see ralph moving on to perhaps a lateral move into an international region and eventually coming back, like the previous chief svt engineer from ford hau thai-tang. Hau started out as a race engineer in the early 90s. Now hes a group VP and in charge of global purchasing.

Anyways it would be cool to see a gear head and a track guy like ralph still in the scene. Maybe him moving to ford or Tesla would be wonderful for those brands. I wonder if toyota could use a guy like him? (Not that they need help with sales)

Lol -- Beth was the most useless thing that I've ever come across, she hated me because I called her out weekly on Twitter because she couldn't get merchandise in the SRTshop.com hats and clothes and other items were all out of stock for 13 months straight. She walked around with arrogance and acted like she contributed to the scene. When I was invited to the Viper tour thing I asked her what the differences were between the models, she looked at me and said the fancy foofy stuff the GTS has you wouldn't care for, ironically that's exactly what I wanted.