Bryan Savage
Viper Owner
I'd agree with what many point out here. Before I continue, I shall disclaim that I have little experience in super/hyper/mega cars. I just read a lot of magazines.
Now, when shopping for any car that costs north of $100,000, I would imagine the buyer would like to select every option and make that car their own. Unless the car is a special edition like the TA that really doesn't have any options, the chances you are going to walk onto the lot and find a car with every option you'd choose are slim. For whatever reason, many dealerships seem to have stocked up their lots with the ol' "fully loaded" models, and ended up with a bunch of $160,000 GTSs that nobody wanted. With any car, the dealership should have a fully-optioned floor model or two so customers can check out all the choices and then perhaps build their own. They should get to drive them too (after a credit check, of course).
But let's face it... Vipers are sold by niche dealers, or megadealers that sell way more Chrysler 200s than Vipers. The cars were probably roped off and nobody was allowed to touch them.
Dodge/SRT has always fought a battle with this car. Regardless of the Generation, the Viper is in a totally different league than any other vehicle in Fiat/Chrysler's range (Alfa and Ferrari excluded), and the dealers may not know how to market them. The fifth generation car is no longer the "built in a barn" car that's clunky, plastiky, and brutally hooliganistic. SRT is going after the Italian exotics with an extremely low-volume, hand built, supreme quality supercar. Oh? 499 LaFerraris? That's cute. Try freaking THIRTY-THREE Black TAs in the whole world!! How's THAT for exclusive??
I feel SRT wants to woo customers away from Aston Martin, Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, etc with a vehicle that can (as far as my limited experience goes) really compete. They built the Track Pack and TA to set records, but they built the GTS to show that an American (ish) manufacturer can compete on a world-class level.
The world wasn't ready for the Phaeton, but may be ready for the new Viper. There's a class of people who I'm sure sneer at the thought of owning any vehicle that costs less than a hundred grand, but it's always been difficult to get them to stop at a Dodge dealership instead of the Porsche one. The car may be world-class, but the experience is not. Nobody cross-shops a Corvette ZR-1 to a 458 Italia, and nobody used to cross-shop an SLS and a Viper, but I'd like to think that perhaps you could. (I've never sat in an SLS, so who knows. I did breathe on an SLS Black once. It was sweet.) SRT needs to win new customers, as well as satisfy everyone on these forums who already owns one.
I hope they succeed, but it's also nice not running into any other Vipers in town...
Now, when shopping for any car that costs north of $100,000, I would imagine the buyer would like to select every option and make that car their own. Unless the car is a special edition like the TA that really doesn't have any options, the chances you are going to walk onto the lot and find a car with every option you'd choose are slim. For whatever reason, many dealerships seem to have stocked up their lots with the ol' "fully loaded" models, and ended up with a bunch of $160,000 GTSs that nobody wanted. With any car, the dealership should have a fully-optioned floor model or two so customers can check out all the choices and then perhaps build their own. They should get to drive them too (after a credit check, of course).
But let's face it... Vipers are sold by niche dealers, or megadealers that sell way more Chrysler 200s than Vipers. The cars were probably roped off and nobody was allowed to touch them.
Dodge/SRT has always fought a battle with this car. Regardless of the Generation, the Viper is in a totally different league than any other vehicle in Fiat/Chrysler's range (Alfa and Ferrari excluded), and the dealers may not know how to market them. The fifth generation car is no longer the "built in a barn" car that's clunky, plastiky, and brutally hooliganistic. SRT is going after the Italian exotics with an extremely low-volume, hand built, supreme quality supercar. Oh? 499 LaFerraris? That's cute. Try freaking THIRTY-THREE Black TAs in the whole world!! How's THAT for exclusive??
I feel SRT wants to woo customers away from Aston Martin, Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, etc with a vehicle that can (as far as my limited experience goes) really compete. They built the Track Pack and TA to set records, but they built the GTS to show that an American (ish) manufacturer can compete on a world-class level.
The world wasn't ready for the Phaeton, but may be ready for the new Viper. There's a class of people who I'm sure sneer at the thought of owning any vehicle that costs less than a hundred grand, but it's always been difficult to get them to stop at a Dodge dealership instead of the Porsche one. The car may be world-class, but the experience is not. Nobody cross-shops a Corvette ZR-1 to a 458 Italia, and nobody used to cross-shop an SLS and a Viper, but I'd like to think that perhaps you could. (I've never sat in an SLS, so who knows. I did breathe on an SLS Black once. It was sweet.) SRT needs to win new customers, as well as satisfy everyone on these forums who already owns one.
I hope they succeed, but it's also nice not running into any other Vipers in town...
