Viper production slowed by one third due to sluggish sales

[46hemi]

I guess not really surprising but....reported by Automotive News.


http://www.autonews.com/article/20131002/OEM01/131009944?template=mobile

 

[ACRucrazy]

"We're really looking at the reality of this type of car in this economy, as well as us controlling the market and making sure that we don't overbuild," Gilles said. The company built 805 Vipers during the 2013 model year, and has switched over to producing 2014 models now.

Gilles said that interest in the Viper remains strong, and that Chrysler received 2,000 dealer and customer orders for Vipers during 2013, including those for 2014 models.

Dealers were asked to pay a $25,000 fee and undergo special training in order to sell the Viper to retail customers.

In eight months on the market -- Viper's first sale was recorded in February -- Chrysler dealers have only sold 426 Vipers in the United States, and dealers have another 565 unsold units in stock -- a 289-day supply.Outside of the United States, the Viper is sold only in a handful of countries in the Middle East.

Good info right here.

 

[PDCjonny]

Grim. I'd be surprised if 2014 sales are half of 2013.

 

[ViperSmith]

Ill be curious to see how C7 sales fare too after the "gotta have it" guys are all fulfilled.

Dealers and SRT need o think out of the box to move this Car. Setup auto crosses around the country, have a trailer of Vipers go from city to city and allow test drives. Get asses in seats.

 

[Viper808]

Ill be curious to see how C7 sales fare too after the "gotta have it" guys are all fulfilled.

Dealers and SRT need o think out of the box to move this Car. Setup auto crosses around the country, have a trailer of Vipers go from city to city and allow test drives. Get asses in seats.

They actually are going to do this . However, its too little too late.. They should have done this at Launch ... now they have turned off and ********** many potential buyers.....and the existing buyers like me are pissed they haven't released the codes yet for performance mods as we were Personally promised by Ralph in December 2012... and we are still waiting for MOPAR to offer accessories and carbon parts also.... what a fiasco.

 

[ViperSmith]

They actually are going to do this . However, its too little too late.. They should have done this at Launch ... now they have turned off and ********** many potential buyers.....and the existing buyers like me are pissed they haven't released the codes yet for performance mods as we were Personally promised by Ralph in December 2012... and we are still waiting for MOPAR to offer accessories and carbon parts also.... what a fiasco.

Without a doubt I agree with you. There is so much SRT could have done.

SRT has been sponsoring all the ALMS races, why didn't they have Vipers there for potential buyers to test?

Hell, let potential buyers have a rid with Tommy!

So much easy stuff. The car is fantastic and without a doubt, if you got people to drive them on the fence they would be moving.

 

[sambo32]

Will they ever release the codes ,buying the viper is half the fun and the other half is the mods.

 

[PatentLaw]

Honestly, I don't get it. I am not going to buy a car because I take a test drive with someone else. I am not going to buy a car because I can get some trinket, or because there was a car that was available to look at. The car is not moving because of the price. I remember the marketing that said that they were "going for the new breed of Viper owner". They wanted to get sales from other brands.........Well? Guess that did not happen. People need to be held accountable for their poor decisions. If they want to start selling cars, they can do it. Cut the price. If you are not willing to do it, then don't complain about the consequences. Heck, with the logic of some on this board, then Bugatti should have tons of test drives in order to get more people in the seat. No doubt, it is a great car....Just the flaw in the logic that that some are forgetting about ...the price. The more you go up, the less you sell.

 

[Nine Ball]

Definitely not a good sign. I'd imagine those meetings at Chrysler/SRT to discuss Viper sales aren't too fun to attend. 7-month late deliveries, and screwing those of us that had orders for them really leaves a lasting impression. Dealerships should have never gotten inventory cars before customer pre-ordered cars were built, period. If I had known that would have happened, I'd not have ordered mine. I'd have just waited to find one close enough on any given dealer's lot.

 

[Bobpantax]

I think a huge factor, in addition to the obvious sluggish economy and price factor, is the failure to follow through on the calibration issue. Let's face it. Many of those who can afford the car would either want to mod it immediately or at least know that they could mod it later if they choose to. Dick Winkles said in a public video that the engine was built to take boost because he knew that many Viper owners like boost. ( Dick drove my car at Palm Beach Int'l and I am sure that he has driven many other members boosted cars.) That got many of us excited. Then when Ralph told us that Mopar was likely to have an offroad controller, that got us a bit more excited. But nothing has happened and expectations that they created have not been met. One would have thought that the lesson was learned after the postsconcerning the Gen IV which had the same limitations. But at least in the case of the Gen IV, the Mopar offroad controller, with headers and a catback exhaust replacment could add 65 to 70 HP without a problem. That helped a little. The Gen V programming is, from what we have been told, far more complex than the Gen IV programming and has even more protective alogrithms making the problem worse not better. So this problem limits the Viper from being made into a monster like many of us like to do to varying degrees. This limits sales. Since the Ferrari, Audi R8, McClaren and Porsche, etc. crowd do not seem to be stepping up to the buying plate in significant numbers as desired by SRT, their market is pretty small. I think that SRT somehow needs to get back to the basics of what a Viper was and should be again. It was, and should be, a very reasonably priced, class dominating, NO FRILLS vehicle that could be made even more outrageous for a reasonable amount of money. Pretty, plush and nannytech ( except that nannytech mandated by law), are not Viper. Mean looking - the meaner the better - somewhat Spartan, and driver skill dependent are Viper. Put another way, Viper is not really Halley Berry. Viper is more like one of those extremely fit, good looking women who appear in some MMA matches who are interesting to look at but can also kick the s**t out of anyone who rubs them the wrong way. Viper should be a male subculture, macho, over the top experience. The heck with trying to cater to Hermes belted p*****s. Please excuse the rant. Watching Dirty Harry turn into a bit of a wus has not been easy on my ancient senses.

 

[Coloviper]

It is pretty simple! Car is really a Dodge and no one is going to pay that kind of money ($125K to $160K) for a Dodge. What got me off the fence on the new 2006 Viper GEN III Coupe when I bought it in November of 2006 was I wanted a new one before they stopped production (no 2007 remember), but mostly the $20,000 factory rebate to take it down to $75K. That is exactly what that car was worth. The new GEN V is just too expensive and overpriced. Of course if you just offer a bare bones SRT base, then $100K looks pretty good, but then people want a GTS as most people today seem to just want it all with the new this or that.

There are four things that will trigger the car to move. Unfortunately, it is going to take very heavy factory discounts. $20K might not even cut it and it might have to be deeper as it $25,000 which interestingly enough is the dealer franchise fee amount. Then jump up the HP on the new cars from the factory. Unless they target 700+HP or greater, it will not get people's attention. When a Mustang has 660+HP, the Viper needs to be greater period, no matter if you can use it or not. It needs a DCT option. Enough said! Lastly nothing sells the cars like knowing they might be dead tomorrow so the news needs to be amplified about Viper potential death to move existing stock. That has been the Mode of Operation for years. Hey on the plus, they doubled production for 2013 compared to 2010.

I really like the new car but it is out of my price league and quite frankly I can not justify that big of jump in fun factor over this lowly old used 96 RT/10 now in my stable. Is it $100K more fun? Pretty hard to make that analysis work in the favor of a new car. Now interestingly enough, if it had a DCT, well then the wife could enjoy it as I have a Saleen S351R which is manual as well. That DCT is reason enough to warrant justification for an upgrade. You know how I ended up with this 96 RT/10. I traded my 1969 Mach 1 across for it. The 70 year old gentleman who owned it for 3 years prior had a bum left knee and could no longer work the clutch. Car was useless to him. There are so many owners and would be owners of this car that are no buying because it does not have a DCT. The DCT is crucial to sales for this car. It is alienating those owners which physcial aliagnments or preferences to not offer it. Time for Chrysler to use that new transmission factory and company they bought to make that a reality.

 

[v10enomous]

Depressing

 

[ACRucrazy]

I dont think it's the end of the world. From day 1 I was not very fond of the 2000 number tossed out. I would rather have SRT make 500 well built and desired vehicles a year than 2000 that only some people want that have issues.

I hope they strive to make the Viper an amazing car that is respected and desired. No matter how few they make.

 

[ViperSmith]

I am curious to why they went from 33 TA's to around 150 being slated now, if they aren't moving well.

 

[JAY]

Maybe time to release the convertible and ACR and get more sales

 

[Mamba52]

Not good news for the Viper. Talked to a guy at Wanna go fast who purchased a 13 Jag F Type vert. He wanted to buy a Viper but the sales guy wouldn't let him test drive it so he walked across the street.

 

[Viper808]

Even with what is said above...The car is absolutely fantastic and is the best viper Yet.... Its worth the money...However, SRT is hurting their own Brand by not supporting the aftermarket and not offering test rides to potential buyers ...we have known that for months.... I commend them for the Viper Racing... But they are forgetting the " sell on Monday" equation....which takes living up to the promises they made and the expectations of the customer....

If VW looses tons money on each Bugatti Veyron they sell at 2 million a pop.. it doesn't seem to figure that Viper can be sustained even at the prices they are asking especially when they are not selling..... at least VW sells every Veyron made.....

I hope SRT gets on the fast track and gets their act together.....because they have let it go a little too far......

 

[DMan]

Well this info is wrong because Ralph said all 2013 orders were sold out. Oh yea that was a play on words about the fact that they were all "bought" by dealers. Eh hem.

The problem I see is that SRT has done just about everything wrong outside of building the car. The tests, the handling of the media, the treatment of pre-order loyalists, I mean everything was screwed up. The car remains awesome and beautiful. But Betamax was a superior technology and VHS beat it. It takes more than making a great widget, or car.

I've guzzled the SRT cool aid since '99 and proud of it but it's been frustrating for over a yr now. I don't know what I think anymore.

This IMO can only be bad news for the vert and ACR. I guess it could go either way, with moving on them to boost ales and attention or lick your wounds and hold back and read the market, with the latter being safer it's what I'd expect.

As for the C7, I can't imagine it'll be any different than any other vette sales season. It'll all be good other than a wrinkle here and there and a ton of volume will lead to the Z07 version and it'll kick butt. Still "just" a vette, whatever that means but ...

 

[VRYALT3R3D]

805 SRT Vipers built for 2013MY
471 Chevrolet Corvette Z06s built for 2013MY
482 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1s built for 2013MY

Viper:
2008MY -- 1579
2009MY -- 482
2010MY -- 392

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

Without a doubt I agree with you. There is so much SRT could have done.

SRT has been sponsoring all the ALMS races, why didn't they have Vipers there for potential buyers to test?

Hell, let potential buyers have a rid with Tommy!

So much easy stuff. The car is fantastic and without a doubt, if you got people to drive them on the fence they would be moving.

Tommy? Maybe Tommy Archer I hope or Bomarito !!

 

[mikesax]

I hope this post is not long winded but here it goes. The economy and people are sooo different than 5-10-15 years ago. Most salaries are flat or in my case half of what they used to be. In my industry-residential remodeling-I have to work more hours more intensely than ever before in order to sell my services and products. I have to be something slightly different to homeowners, builders and interior designers. When I bought my first Viper in 2010, I read an article in Road and Track about the Viper being the only hand built sports car in America, also it was coming to an end. I called half a dozen dealers before someone 100 miles away in Pennsylvania would allow me a test drive. From the moment I sat in my vert in September of 2010 I have been completely satisfied, bought the car on the spot. The 2013 is the ballsiest car out there, 7500 miles on mine and its incredible, I love EVERYTHING about it!! I go insane if I cant drive it daily, its therapeutic, most fun I have all day is driving to and from work! Viper owners are throwbacks in a way, not everyone today is car crazy like many used to be. SRT needs to hit every possible segment in order to sell 1000-1500 a year, or whatever they need to sell in order to make the car viable to produce. The racers who need more horsepower need the codes so they can upgrade the performance, some magazine needs to give it the positive writeup it deserves, dealers need to get together and allow test drives to those who can afford to buy it, it needs to be seen on the road!!!!!! I have not seen one 2013 on the road in my 7500 miles of driving since June-CRAZY!!! Don't get me wrong , I love the exclusivity, everyone who enjoys automobiles admires it, they just don't know how truly INCREDIBLE it is because the launch was SHODDY and than the dealers out here in the tri-state area mismanaged everything from initial pricing(market cap adjustment -REALLY?)to lack of marketing-would have been nice to see it in one of our dozens of upscale malls or something. Anyway, I don't think the car is overpriced-its an amazing car for $100-$140,000 - but than again I use it daily, not as a second or third car. The 2013 Viper is without a doubt exceptional in every way, I feel we are all lucky that they were able to bring it back with all of its upgrades knowing it would be sold in such a small volume-its a shame that dealers and marketing staff didn't maximize its potential for positive exposure during the spring-because now a whole new slew of cars from GM and others will capture the dwindelling upscale sportscar market with their new vehicles!! IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE THOUGH-Listen to all your different customers and positive things will happen.

 

[wirepaladin08]

I don't know how typical I am but they lost me as a buyer early on. Minor league performance / horsepower increase coupled with a major league price increase = me losing interest in a hurry.

To add insult to injury they were very vocal early on about "no discounting" by dealers. I'll at least consider looking at the ACR (if there is one) but right now I'm highly inclined to pass and just keep my Gen IV ACR. This entire rollout has been very poorly handled by Chrysler -- with sales results where they are now.

 

[v10enomous]

Not good news for the Viper. Talked to a guy at Wanna go fast who purchased a 13 Jag F Type vert. He wanted to buy a Viper but the sales guy wouldn't let him test drive it so he walked across the street.

Poor guy...

 

[Stealth]

Honestly, I don't get it. I am not going to buy a car because I take a test drive with someone else. I am not going to buy a car because I can get some trinket, or because there was a car that was available to look at. The car is not moving because of the price. I remember the marketing that said that they were "going for the new breed of Viper owner". They wanted to get sales from other brands.........Well? Guess that did not happen. People need to be held accountable for their poor decisions. If they want to start selling cars, they can do it. Cut the price. If you are not willing to do it, then don't complain about the consequences. Heck, with the logic of some on this board, then Bugatti should have tons of test drives in order to get more people in the seat. No doubt, it is a great car....Just the flaw in the logic that that some are forgetting about ...the price. The more you go up, the less you sell.

+1

I very much appreciate the hard work Dodge (Ralph and Sergio) did to even get a Gen V. Excellent! To succeed, I really think that certain matters need to be addressed:

1. As noted in this thread and others, power needs to be at or close to 700hp. Too many competitors.

2. The price cannot exceed $115k or so loaded--just no market for this from an American car maker. With tax this is $125k or so in CA. The higher end is a crowded market.

3. The chasis and handling must be dialed in.

4. The car cannot look like a Gen II. As noted by other posts, the car needs to be mean and bad-a@@. The Volado concept comes to mind, as does the current GTS-R ALMs car.

5. Overall, R&D must be applied to make this car worth upgrading to. The current Gen V is not close to making me want to upgrade my Gen IV (which has been flawless) at a cost of $60k. It is no response that a company has a small budget. GM and other companies do not have small budgets and will produce well-engineered cars.


So hang in there SRT and listen to the peeps!

 

[v10enomous]

I don't think anyone is selling many $140k cars these days. Let's face it... The country is being pushed towards socialism where people are demonized for having money and the whole economy is in the crapper and a lot of people lost the big nest eggs that they had in home equity and 401k's.

 

[ViperSmith]

Dealers biggest mistake was checking all the boxes for every option on the GTS. The country is swamped with $140k MSRP cars.

If they would have went with the more "affordable" $110k cars, IMHO they would be moving better. Just because $110k is affordable to some doesn't mean $140k is...

 

[TrackAire]

How about this for an "arrive and drive" on the new Gen 5 for potential buyers wanting to test drive the vehicle. I understand dealers not wanting to just let anybody drive a 640 hp car around, but we need to make some type of options available.

Have 6 weekends set up around the country so every 60 days there is a location where there are 4 or 5 different Gen 5's waiting with qualified SRT people to show off the car, give drives on a safe closed circuit (like a big parking lot or runway with an autocross set up, but higher speed than a standard autocross) and a city/hiway driving loop. The prospective buyer looks at the dates available and signs up to drive the Viper. He has to fill out a detailed questionnaire (whatever SRT marketing feels they need to ask) and he locks in the test drive date.

If he is close enough to the "location" he can just drive to the test drive location. If he has to fly, then he purchases the ticket and flies out. If he does not buy a new Gen 5 within 60 days, fine. But if he does purchase the car, SRT will pay a set amount towards his airline ticket (say $750.00).

For those that drove to the event and end up buying a car, then maybe credit them back $250.00

I do think that if "wives" could be brought along, that would be a plus. I have seen numerous times where the wife looks the the husband and just says "buy the damn thing, you know you want it" when dealing with a high end toy. At the price level of this car, having the wife give it a sales blessing is often what the male buyer needs to sign on the dotted line. If you can afford to consider the Gen 5, usually the wife is often part of the monetary situation because many are professionals or business owners with their spouses. This takes some of pressure off since the wife is on board....heck if she likes the car then you can claim you're buying it for the "both" of you, lol.

While potential buyers are there SRT would have light snacks and beverages, SRT and Dodge race history, maybe one of the team drivers, a couple of engineers, etc.....heck, maybe even one of the GTS-R ALMS race cars on display. (a lot of potential buyers would find it hard to believe that the Gen 5 has way more hp than that crazy looking race car)

I don't think it needs to be a high end event, more grassroots and raw, like the car. Lots of tech info, lots of crawling around the car showing features and benefits. I figure you can get maybe 80 people through the system a day with 4 cars to drive (averaging 25 minutes of driving per person). That would be 160 test drives a weekend. I have no idea what the percentage buying a car in the next 60 days would be, but if we go on 10%, that would be 96 new buyers minimum. The sales could grow beyond that with the synergy of the program and how it gains in popularity. Media, social networks, etc would obviously be used to gain even more exposure.

That's the direction I would be going to get some butts in the seats. Once in, they are going to be impressed.

Cheers,
George

 

[Jack B]

Bob:

no disrespect, but, your posts usually have great content (I enjoy them), but, they are so hard to follow due to the fact they are one paragraph no matter how long they are. I probably should not be casting stones, my sentence structure usually *****.

I think a huge factor, in addition to the obvious sluggish economy and price factor, is the failure to follow through on the calibration issue. Let's face it. Many of those who can afford the car would either want to mod it immediately or at least know that they could mod it later if they choose to. Dick Winkles said in a public video that the engine was built to take boost because he knew that many Viper owners like boost. ( Dick drove my car at Palm Beach Int'l and I am sure that he has driven many other members boosted cars.) That got many of us excited. Then when Ralph told us that Mopar was likely to have an offroad controller, that got us a bit more excited. But nothing has happened and expectations that they created have not been met. One would have thought that the lesson was learned after the postsconcerning the Gen IV which had the same limitations. But at least in the case of the Gen IV, the Mopar offroad controller, with headers and a catback exhaust replacment could add 65 to 70 HP without a problem. That helped a little. The Gen V programming is, from what we have been told, far more complex than the Gen IV programming and has even more protective alogrithms making the problem worse not better. So this problem limits the Viper from being made into a monster like many of us like to do to varying degrees. This limits sales. Since the Ferrari, Audi R8, McClaren and Porsche, etc. crowd do not seem to be stepping up to the buying plate in significant numbers as desired by SRT, their market is pretty small. I think that SRT somehow needs to get back to the basics of what a Viper was and should be again. It was, and should be, a very reasonably priced, class dominating, NO FRILLS vehicle that could be made even more outrageous for a reasonable amount of money. Pretty, plush and nannytech ( except that nannytech mandated by law), are not Viper. Mean looking - the meaner the better - somewhat Spartan, and driver skill dependent are Viper. Put another way, Viper is not really Halley Berry. Viper is more like one of those extremely fit, good looking women who appear in some MMA matches who are interesting to look at but can also kick the s**t out of anyone who rubs them the wrong way. Viper should be a male subculture, macho, over the top experience. The heck with trying to cater to Hermes belted p*****s. Please excuse the rant. Watching Dirty Harry turn into a bit of a wus has not been easy on my ancient senses.

 

[Jack B]

Your comment is right on, this is the absolute root of the problem, why was it so hard to see?

Dealers biggest mistake was checking all the boxes for every option on the GTS. The country is swamped with $140k MSRP cars.

If they would have went with the more "affordable" $110k cars, IMHO they would be moving better. Just because $110k is affordable to some doesn't mean $140k is...

 

[Paul Hawker]

I do not believe it is the car. The Gen V is a fantastic looking, great performing, and reasonabley priced American king of the hill that is better than the Vett, Jag, Aston, Porsche, Lambo, etc. in almost every way for the majority of the current Viper Nation.

I believe the slow down in sales is due to the lack of Love shown by SRT. Viper members and clubs seem to be pretty much cut out of the loop.

As an example, The SoCal President contacted SRT to get some support for our recent Western Zone Rendezvous. He was pretty much told to pound sand...nothing was available. I speak to the other Western Region Presidents and they give me the same response...crickets!

We have been encouraged to attend sponsored SRT inclusive events, but nothing for the Vipers...Nothing.

The only President in the region that has been able to gain access to SRT and their supports, has been Maurice. He got SRT racing drivers interviews and autographs, meet and greet with the drivers and SRT executives at the Laguna races. Got the best parking spots, sat in the Sky Boxes and ate the catered food. Pretty much access to everything, however the rest of the region has been walled off. I appreciate this success by Maurice, but others noticed the favoritism and are put off by the cold shoulder.

Not sure of the politics here, but many have told me they are losing their interest in the brand because the interface excitement is gone.

We have been shut out of factory tours that were opened up for just a select group. Kind of a clique mentality has been mentioned to me my several members.

Due to the distain Ralph showed for the club and the politics of opening a spin off club, many members have circled their wagons, and spend their enthusiasm at the local club event level. Local club Presidents, for the most part, have a very loyal and enthusiastic membership. They love to go on rides and events. They enjoy the company of each other, and value the social nature of these events. For many Viper owners, this is the only time they take their cars on the road. Without these events the cars would reside dusty in their garages.

I have noticed that many Regional Presidents have been reaching out to neighboring clubs to engage in multi club events. These are well received, and the host club is usually very proud to show off their local favorite driving roads and venues.

Believe this may be in response of the vacuum felt at the national level.

So, I believe there may be a silver lining in all this. People only buy from people they like. If they feel that SRT does not like them...so it goes, and other manufacturers will welcome them with open arms. Just as SRT thought they would draw buyers from other manufacturers, those same manufacturers have been gobbling up previous Viper owners that no longer feel the LOVE.