Viper production slowed by one third due to sluggish sales

[PDCjonny]

Base price on a 2010 was $91k including leather. The base on a 2013 is $102k and leather is $3k extra. There are actually some new 2010's still on lots. The GenV is light years ahead of the Gen4. Even the biased journalists that don't like Vipers and guys like Randy Pobst will tell you the same thing.

No one said it wasn't a better car. You're saying if the SRT was 10K less it would be selling like hotcakes.
Baloney. 10K isn't a deal breaker at this level.

I think the retro styling ala 1996 is dated. I think it needed to be modern, striking and today.
Shouldn't have to look three times at the car to tell if it's a Gen 2 or a Gen 5.

Laugh at the C7 all you want but they had the balls to change it up and do something innovative.
That's my opinion and I'm not alone judging by the sales figures.

 

[IndyRon]

No one said it wasn't a better car. You're saying if the SRT was 10K less it would be selling like hotcakes.
Baloney. 10K isn't a deal breaker at this level.

I think the retro styling ala 1996 is dated. I think it needed to be modern, striking and today.
Shouldn't have to look three times at the car to tell if it's a Gen 2 or a Gen 5.

Laugh at the C7 all you want but they had the balls to change it up and do something innovative.
That's my opinion and I'm not alone judging by the sales figures.

I agree 100% with this. The car is nice, but it's also the first viper to NOT be groundbreaking in its exterior styling.

 

[Nine Ball]

I'll admit my Gen V gets mistaken for an older Viper. Because SRT didn't market them well, and most people didn't even know they were in production again. Parked next to a Gen 2, however, people notice an immediate difference between them. I happen to like the classic/timeless look of the Gen 2 and 5. In 10 years, they will still look striking. In 20 years, they will still be sought after. The C7 will not.

 

[v10enomous]

No one said it wasn't a better car. You're saying if the SRT was 10K less it would be selling like hotcakes.
Baloney. 10K isn't a deal breaker at this level.

I think the retro styling ala 1996 is dated. I think it needed to be modern, striking and today.
Shouldn't have to look three times at the car to tell if it's a Gen 2 or a Gen 5.

Laugh at the C7 all you want but they had the balls to change it up and do something innovative.
That's my opinion and I'm not alone judging by the sales figures.

The GenV retained all of the great styling of the GenII and made it look sharp and fresh. It looks far better than a Gen4 base coupe and the ACR will look far better than the Gen4 ACR. I suppose you think the Ford GT looks dated too. Vipers are halo cars and they will never sell like hot cakes but the sales numbers would be a lot better than Gen4's if there was a Vert and an ACR all at Slightly above Gen4 pricing. That's all I'm saying. The guys that can swing the price of a new one and don't care are the winners because their cars will be more rare and exclusive. It's the I have it and you don't factor.

 

[VRYALT3R3D]

Base price on a 2010 was $91k including leather. The base on a 2013 is $102k and leather is $3k extra. There are actually some new 2010's still on lots. The GenV is light years ahead of the Gen4. Even the biased journalists that don't like Vipers and guys like Randy Pobst will tell you the same thing.

I would personally not buy a 2010 that has been sitting on the lot for years, unsold. There is a reason why its there...

 

[PDCjonny]

I would personally not buy a 2010 that has been sitting on the lot for years, unsold. There is a reason why its there...

A hideous color, not the car itself.

 

[v10enomous]

What color is hideous ?

 

[PDCjonny]

What color is hideous ?

Wouldn't insult anyones color choice but if there is a 2010 still sitting unsold on someones lot, it's the color not the car.

 

[JMcGuinness]

I've only been in my Viper for a few months now, but I sincerely doubt the exterior design resemblance of a Gen II is hurting the Gen V. Everywhere I take my Gen II, turns heads and gets rave comments.

I would love to get into a Gen V someday. Viper808 and Jetstar have me sold already. Right now just isn't in the cards

 

[redtanrt10]

Core issue is the price point to hit their sales plan for 2013. Average transaction prices of the '09's and '10's were much lower. GEN V is improved but to come out the gate with a $140 MSRP launch edition was crazy, should have been priced at the old ACR level, then go backwards with SRT to a 90K base. They can't transact at $140K, or get a solid look from competitive owners until they add a semi auto trans. Current owners don't see the performance lift from a IV to V to justify a trade/sale of an ACR at 70K to a track pack SRT at $115K. (But, that GEN V SRT might be available for 75K in 12 months and get my attention). Better answer is what the proposed Z-07 will be, re-body, upgraded interior, 600 hp, (that can be modded easier) and track derived upgrades for $100K. Got to get a semi-auto trans vert out quickly at a reasonable price point or Viper may be very vulnerable.

 

[PDCjonny]

So in essence people are not willing to buy an American sports car for 140K.
Regardless of it's speed, it's build quality or anything else. It's just too much money for the perceived value.

 

[v10enomous]

So in essence people are not willing to buy an American sports car for 140K.
Regardless of it's speed, it's build quality or anything else. It's just too much money for the perceived value.

Some people are paying twice that and more for near new FGT's so it's not that.

 

[PDCjonny]

Some people are paying twice that and more for near new FGT's so it's not that.

Ridiculous analogy you know as well as I they are buying them as investments nobody is driving them.

 

[v10enomous]

Ridiculous analogy you know as well as I they are buying them as investments nobody is driving them.

Whatever the reason, they actually had some trouble selling FGT's when they were still making them and there were far fewer choices at the time.

 

[GTS-R 001]

Whatever the reason, they actually had some trouble selling FGT's when they were still making them and there were far fewer choices at the time.

They only had trouble selling Ford GT's when they were on the lots for $100K markup at $270K +.

A local dealer to me had 5 on his lot, he thought he was going to be the GT king, he went broke with his beliefs. If he had the cars at list + 20-30K he would have realized his dreams but greed gets em every time.

 

[Dereiter]

Car is really a Dodge and no one is going to pay that kind of money ($125K to $160K) for a Dodge.

True.
I added some money and bought a Lamborghini. HP, TQ, Turbo... it does not matter for me. The brand means everything. SRT guys should remember it.

 

[v10enomous]

True.
The brand means everything.

It means a lot to a lot of people. It comes down to status and image for many folks.

 

[FrankBarba]

Membership has its Privilages.....

 

[redtanrt10]

So in essence people are not willing to buy an American sports car for 140K.
Regardless of it's speed, it's build quality or anything else. It's just too much money for the perceived value.

Jon, it can be done but is it a couple of hundred or a few thousand units? Two possible ways for them to sell at $140; 1, kick's the ****, performance wise, against the any sub $300K cars, Turbo's, Lambo's 430's, etc., not beats, murders them. Someone else pointed to brand, yeah that's the brand discount needed to sell a $140K Dodge to people that can buy anything they want, $300K performance for half price (till they build the brand). Or, 2, got to get more mainstream with semi auto trans, sell to people that can Friday commute on the LIE, 405 out here etc, and/or wife can drive.

 

[VENOM V]

Me too
It really sucked having almost the same car as mine sitting on a dealer lot 10 miles from me for almost a month before mine showed up and it had a higher S/N
Just for comparison my C7 showed up this week on time and it's no Viper but I have to admit it's pretty nice

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Nice C7, love that blue with the black wheels. It'll be fun to see one on the track to see how they do. There's a small chance I may be able to take one for a few laps at Spring Mountain Raceway next week.

 

[FrankBarba]

about the Ford GT.....It's Just a Ford......but look at those values go up. Has any viper gone up in value?
I've purchased plenty of vipers and have plenty for sale except my Comp Coupe. I'd sell or trade all of my
cars for the right race car....

 

[Black Adder]

Hey Tony, that wasn't my Gen V that was getting neglected next to your Vooodoo, was it?

All kidding aside, I was one of the guys snapping pics of that bad ass Voodoo. Beatufiul machine, one of my all time favorites and sure to be one of the rarest Vipers around.

Hi Todd, no it was a dark blue one

 

[slaughterj]

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.

Anyone know how much would all that cost (parts and labor costs separate)?

 

[kennyhemi]

about the Ford GT.....It's Just a Ford......but look at those values go up. Has any viper gone up in value?
I've purchased plenty of vipers and have plenty for sale except my Comp Coupe. I'd sell or trade all of my
cars for the right race car....

If the Viper would have gone out of production they would have doubled in price by now! like someone said here earlier, that would bring the collectors over and they would not be driven. The bigger issue here is the economy. Until that gets fixed, the problem will presist.

 

[v10enomous]

about the Ford GT.....It's Just a Ford......but look at

those values go up. Has any viper gone up in value?
I've purchased plenty of vipers and have plenty for sale except my Comp Coupe. I'd sell or trade all of my
cars for the right race car....

A little off topic here but I saw a Cav GT40 a month or so ago for the first time in person and it just rocked my world even more so than the Ford GT. What a beast and a true 40" car

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[DMan]

IMO the brand thing is over done. The FGT is a blue oval Ford and look how exotic it is in perception and value. Look at the GT500, a mustang for $70K for God's sake, people said it'd never sell and was crazy, they sold them with ADMs of $5-10K with no problem, other then obscure dealers, they still command top dollar and an MSRP deal is considered a "good deal", and there's a brand new IRS based stang coming & it didnt' knock the sales.

The Viper has a hard time getting a decent break out there in magazine & review land, always has, couple that with the fiasco's with the supplied test cars and the price that everyone quotes is $140K, and it's not too attractive. You can get a really nice gen5 Viper in the $105-110K range but I swear all you ever see is that $140K number and yes that's a helluva lot more than the $105-110 range. And as nice as the car is, the reviews tend to ****, the mags rate it poorly, and you can't find out yourself cause you can't test drive it. I'm not sure how it was supposed to take off given all of this.

 

[Dereiter]

It means a lot to a lot of people. It comes down to status and image for many folks.

I owned two Vipers: 04 Gen III and 08 Gen IV three years ago. However i decided to sell them due to two reasons. The first was i did not like a quality of interior. I told myself periodically: "It is not a big deal. I will not pay my attention on that" and etc. But when other car brands improved step by step a level of comfort and ergonomy inside their cars it was difficult to ignore it. The second reason was the value of the brand. When i earned some money then i did not want to buy a new viper Gen V, because i had an huge intention to purchase a REAL exotic italian car. It was my next step. Do not blame me. I changed my stance regarding interests of the cars from powerful vipers to aristocratic italian cars.

 

[SRTviper]

IMO the brand thing is over done. The FGT is a blue oval Ford and look how exotic it is in perception and value. Look at the GT500, a mustang for $70K for God's sake, people said it'd never sell and was crazy, they sold them with ADMs of $5-10K with no problem, other then obscure dealers, they still command top dollar and an MSRP deal is considered a "good deal", and there's a brand new IRS based stang coming & it didnt' knock the sales.

The Viper has a hard time getting a decent break out there in magazine & review land, always has, couple that with the fiasco's with the supplied test cars and the price that everyone quotes is $140K, and it's not too attractive. You can get a really nice gen5 Viper in the $105-110K range but I swear all you ever see is that $140K number and yes that's a helluva lot more than the $105-110 range. And as nice as the car is, the reviews tend to ****, the mags rate it poorly, and you can't find out yourself cause you can't test drive it. I'm not sure how it was supposed to take off given all of this.

As far as the shelby, you can't get any car with that kind of HP and performance for under 100k new. That is why it sells so well. And the FGT was the only true american exotic to ever be sold. I consider the viper to be exotic but by european standards it requires the engine to be in the rear.

 

[Bobpantax]

The truth is that it just is not selling. Why? From a bean counter's point of view, it does not matter. The sales projection was not met. The decision was made to reduce employee count and production at the plant. Going forward, if the picture does not significantly improve and the business case that was made to produce the Gen V is not met, I do not see it being continued out of love in today's hypercompetitive environment. I believe that it was made very clear that the Gen V had to make a profit on its own. I hope SRT turns it around. It will not be an easy thing to do in this economy.

 

[Dereiter]

This is my new car.