Re: ***No More Viper After 2009??***
Exactly. John Snow probably wouldn't know a Viper if it bit him.
We currently are owning and driving our Vipers in an environment where the current national mindset is one that is still relatively inclusive of performance cars and their attributes. What will come to pass, with ever increasing certainty, is a new national culture that is far less supportive (in all senses of the word...social, legislative, risk insurance and regulatory requirements) of the far end of the auto spectrum that we all are in now.
The end result? A transitional car company, led in good measure by mercenaries, trying to find a new buyer in a new culture that will tout the "civic responsibility of the preservation of resources." All the while, they will be held to a new standard of strategic automotive managerial skill...."Can you pick the platform to bet your business on?"
Given that..what do you think will resonate with any auto companies/partnerships they approach?
"We have the funding and designs and tooling for a new generation of fuel efficient, profitably built cars for the world at large"
or
"We have the funding and new design for a limited run of 700 horsepower street racers that is targeting an ageing and diminishing group in the U.S. that can live with 15mpg?"
The changes are that big, the problem that large.
All the old modes and models for developement and execution are off the table for Cerberus....they knew that going in.
Cerberus is late, a dollar short and bought the wrong company...In short, give them a year and they will be desperate to release their interests. The least of their problems...and therefor their focus, is the Viper. Given that...it isn't their solution either.
Exactly. John Snow probably wouldn't know a Viper if it bit him.