I dont know about you guys, but this is a pretty stupid decision by dodge...Advertise the new viper all over in red w/ white and then not offer it in that color. Its like Ferrari not offering red on all new models..lol
Andrew, I see you are new to these forums and apparently not a Viper owner either (although you seem to have hooked up with Albert Fattal, which is a good thing). So with all due respect, let me tell you the reasoning for this move by Dodge:
Starting in 2002 with the "Final Edition" Vipers, Chrysler saw an opportunity to move additional product by producing documented "Limited Edition" vehicles with a defined number of cars produced. The GT-2 of 1998 sold out almost instantly with 100 cars made. I suspect you already knew that, given the "GTSR" in your forum ID. They repeated this marketing tactic with cars such as the Silver Mamba, Black Mamba, etc. They also sold a bit more briskly than "standard" models due to the documented "limited" nature of their production. And always at a premium - these limited edition cars usually had a sticker price of $4,000 - $7,000
more than their "regular" counterparts.
In 2004 they produced the first "VCA Edition" vehicles - the 2005 model year SRT10 Roadster. Limited to just 50 copies, this was the first yellow Viper in the SRT10 body style. Those 50 owners, including Yours Truly, were delighted with their purchases. Many were led to believe that yellow would not be produced again, at least not in that shade of yellow and certainly not as a 2005 model. Oops. Viper Race Yellow soon came out and many of the VCA Edition owners were pretty unhappy - despite the fact that it didn't have the black wheels or black hood stripe. Still adversely affected the value of the VCA Editions, no matter how small.
Fast forward to 2006 and two other Limited Edition Vipers: The First Edition in blue with white stripes and the VCA Edition in red with white stripes. Both were very limited in nature and both were sold out quickly. Wanting to avoid the discontent expressed with the yellow VCA Edition, SRT asked for our opinion on offering white stripes with the red or blue cars.
The national officers took that a step further and polled the board of directors and
all of the regional presidents that were in Detroit this past January. Many of those presidents and directors own First Editions, VCA Editions, or the more recent VOI Limited Edition. And with the one exception of a gentleman who bashedly admitted he wanted an '08 in red with white stripes, the votes were unanimous: Protect the exclusivity promised when these Limited Editions were originally offered. SRT agreed and the rest is history.
Now as an outsider it may seem silly to lose potential sales. You probably wonder why Ferrari limited the beautiful
Cornes Ferrari 612 to only 20 copies. It's called "reward": Ferrari rewards their loyal Japanese importer of 30 years, while SRT rewards Viper owners by keeping their Limited Editions, well,
limited. Will it cost them a few sales? Possibly. But it will very likely
increase sales from Viper owners that understand what it really means.
