Latest
Scoop on the SRT Viper 2013 by Dodge...RETRO?
02-04-12 The word is from the people that have
seen the new SRT Viper 2013 by Dodge is that the resemblance
to the Viper Gen 2 (97-02) body is remarkable. Some
who have seen it say that it is a disappointment because it
looks so much like the Gen 2 Viper.
It does have a V-10 engine.
It is said that the sticker price will start at around
$129,900.00. Production will be very limited with
considerably smaller year numbers that the last generation.
TVS
The 2013 Model Year Dodge Viper: Latest Spy Reports...
Most Likely design?
One clue as to the new V10 engine was
in the Dodge Challenger V10 Drag Pak and Viper ACR-X, which
share an 8.4-liter,
512 cubic-inch
engine producing 640
horsepower.
New Dodge Viper Gen 5 Official Logos
below:
In mid-2010, Ralph Gilles said the
2012
Dodge
Viper,
if approved, would use weight-saving expertise, materials,
and technology (but not parts) from
Ferrari,
with a V-10 derived from the current 8.4L engine. Gilles
said the Viper will always be V10 powered, but that there
might be a V8 powered sibling (presumably along the lines of
the once-proposed, Daimler-rejected Chrysler Firepower). In
December 2010, he told Detroit News that "everything
would be changed," but it would not be based on Ferrari or
Alfa underpinnings; and that the dimensions were quite
dissimilar from the Alfa 8C.
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The engine is likely to be new, and there are many possibilities: a revised version of the LA V8-based V10 the Viper has always used, a V10 based on the Pentastar V6 (though this would probably require a prohibitive amount of engineering money, unless Fiat planned to use the same engine in a Ferrari or Maserati), a Hemi-derived powerplant (though again the engineering costs would be high), and a V10 based on a Fiat design are all possible.
Gilles did add in December 2010 that he was looking to Fiat to help tune the new Viper’s chassis, making it more controllable by ordinary drivers, and that it would arrive in 2012 as a 2013 model; it has been in development and has been approved by Chrysler's board.
A 2013 Viper prototype was driven into the September 2010 dealer meeting, to the amazement of everyone there. It is apparently a big styling change which was apparently universally esteemed by those who saw it. The looks are more upscale, and the product committee took just five minutes to unanimously approve the car. One observers said it was “dramatic and awesome.”
The 2012 (production) mockup was apparently closer to the second generation Viper in appearance; the main deviation from the second-generation Viper was in the nose. The overhangs are much smaller, though the wheelbase appears to be the same; and there are definite Firepower cues.
