Is '08 the Last Year?

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Man! We need you to buy a Prius, and every model of minivans. They offend me.

Not minivans. We need something for Nick Hogan to drive.

 

[RayC]

I think viper will continue to be produced in its current style as tooling/design costs have already been paid, especially if it's profitable. As market is saturated with Gen III styled cars sales will drop and eventually restyling will be a must to sell cars. The real question is will they spend the dollars to redesign and retool for a true GenIV car or will they kill the king.

 

[Yellow32]

I think its good that Cerebus Capital has allowed CAAP to start up and produce the 08 Viper, that alone is encouraging to me.

I think that Team SRT knew the sale of Dodge was a possibility and worked like crazy to get the 08 Viper done before DC's sale of Dodge/Chrylser.

I am sure they will continue to do everything they can to keep the Viper going. The engine they have produced will more easily allow them to meet future federal mandates and they can spend the "profits" on R&D of a new body. I think we will see a new body by 2011.

-J

 

[Vipermann]

I think viper will continue to be produced in its current style as tooling/design costs have already been paid, especially if it's profitable. As market is saturated with Gen III styled cars sales will drop and eventually restyling will be a must to sell cars.

If I were betting money, I would expect that the current Viper body design will be around for many years -- the body is very modular and the the Viper brand now well-established, Dodge can tweak the body here and there, like the Posche 911, without a major overal design change.

I think we will see the following ongoing performance/other changes to the Gen3 design, before we see a major redesign:
> light-weight ACR versions
> availablity of more performance parts (customization)
> new interior pieces/look
> more power
> a new, more aero-friendly nose (with the car taking air through the hood, the drag-creating front openings no longer have to be as large)

 

[fireball]

Well, Mercedes didn't cancel the Viper program so I suppose Cerebus might hang on to it as well. I expect that their evaluation criteria would be very much the same.

I'm hoping for a long production run.

 

[viperdrummer]

Well, Mercedes didn't cancel the Viper program so I suppose Cerebus might hang on to it as well. I expect that their evaluation criteria would be very much the same.

I'm hoping for a long production run.

Cerebus is an investment company and holds companies, makes changes and presumably flips them. Mercedes is a car company , and as much as Germans turn their nose down at American cars, the Viper intrigues the German sense of styling and performance. I suspect Cerebus could care less about either.

 

[Vipermann]

Assuming that 2,000 - 2,500 Vipers are sold each year going forward (aside from the debacle as to how sales of the '05s and '06s were handled in the past) that's probably about $150MM - $200MM per year in revenue to Dodge -- not bad for a little plant with exclusive production like CAAP. And keep in mind that Dodge would need to sell 4X as many cars for other models for the same revenue, and none of those cars would be all over the covers of magazines. Just the same, Dodge does sell much higher numbers of other cars/trucks, but there's probably a place for Viper in any future business plans. And even if they wanted to dump the Viper, who's to say that somebody else like ... Saleen ... couldn't raise the investor capital to buy the whole basket from Dodge -- so Dodge might sell the Viper before they would ever 'kill' it -- that's how an investment company will think ... but I'll bet Dodge keeps it

 

[DodgeViper01]

Hopefully it will be around for a long time.

 

[Lawrenzo]

and as much as Germans turn their nose down at American cars, the Viper intrigues the German sense of styling and performance.

I can vouch for this fact. Through a friend I met some upper mucketymuck of MB Austria and he was totally taken by my GTS. He couldn't keep his eyes off of it. Lots of indepth questions too.

 

[Photog1]

Heard last week that there is for sure going to be a VOI10. This would not be happening if the Viper was not important and going to be around for a long time. Look how long GM has kept the vette.

 

[fireball]

Cerebus is an investment company and holds companies, makes changes and presumably flips them. Mercedes is a car company , and as much as Germans turn their nose down at American cars, the Viper intrigues the German sense of styling and performance. I suspect Cerebus could care less about either.

I think this nails it down perfectly. Even car guys need to make business plans but they're more likely to 'skew' their estimates and hide costs elsewhere.

 

[Andrew/USPWR]

Cerebus is an investment company and holds companies, makes changes and presumably flips them. Mercedes is a car company , and as much as Germans turn their nose down at American cars, the Viper intrigues the German sense of styling and performance. I suspect Cerebus could care less about either.

I still believe one of the problem with peoples image of Chrysler is based on past poor quality. They have come a long way in quality and styling and the Viper is at the top of that list. When you buy a company, you don’t kill off it’s top dogs.


How many have seen a successful restaurant get bought out, and then new owners change the menu & help only to see it then go under?

The Viper is their image of their Bob Lutz come back. If the Viper goes, so does the company. IMO