( Above, Nick's winning entry from our Photoshop Contest )
The trouble with rumors is that they often change shapes and directions like a cloud on a windy day. Today's "it's a lion, no, no it's a tree with a face!" comes from the Detroit News who are reporting that the new Dodge Viper is confirmed for production in 2012 as a 2013 model and that it is not based on an Alfa platform. The 2013 Dodge Viper will use an architecture of its own that will be less cabin rearward, and have a similar shape to the 8c, but with different proportions. It will not use a Ferrari powerplant.
But even without Ferrari engines or Alfa frames, Fiat will be involved in the new Viper. Ralph Gilles told the DET, "We will use their expertise to open the performance envelope in the Viper. Fiat has an awesome ability to tune cars. I want the new Viper to be a more forgiving car to drive and accessible to more people. We've never had stability control on a high-performance car, which is about to happen on the new car."
Traction control. More drivable. More accessible. Less cabin-rearward. So they're building a Corvette?
( The Detroit News )
forgeryfade says:
08:19 AM, 12/ 1/10
Resale prices on the older vipers just went up. It’s funny that the automotive world is going to miss the days when the viper was distinctively low tech. all the things that it was criticized will now make it legend. Even this site once called it a “dinosaur”. Now were all going to miss the days when we drove the cars not a computer? With Lotus going upstream who’s going to make the next barebones thrill ride?
ed124c says:
08:51 AM, 12/ 1/10
Hmmm... "less cabin rearward". Could that mean mid-engine? Now, that would alienate most Viper fans, but it would attract a lot of people who want a cheap (relatively) pseudo-Ferrari.
Probably not gonna happen, though. But it will more than likely sell well the first few years.
Assuming there is still a Chrysler company 2 years from now. From what we have seen, over the last month or so, relative to their new models, I believe they have a good chance to survive. I sure do like the looks of the new Charger--inside and out-- and I am not a Chrysler fan. I would never want to get out of the thing.
greenpony says:
10:08 AM, 12/ 1/10
One of the many things that made the Viper awesome was its exclusivity. It's not supposed to be "accessible to more people."
lostboyz says:
10:09 AM, 12/ 1/10
its not mid-engine, the detroit news article isn't well represented here. Unique underpinning platform, still the long hood. TCS is only coming in as a federal requirement
dyzio says:
01:30 PM, 12/ 1/10
Keep away Fiat from Viper and Challanger ...
Chrysler now have 6,4 Hemi so what's the problem,
I would like Viper stay Viper (better looking and more wild than CorVette...)
...
It started as "Shelby Cobra remake" , anybody remembers ?!?
dyzio says:
01:32 PM, 12/ 1/10
Keep away Fiat from Viper and Challanger ...
Chrysler now have 6,4 Hemi so what's the problem,
I would like Viper stay Viper (better looking and more wild than CorVette...)
...
It started as "Shelby Cobra remake" , anybody remembers ?!?
lostboyz says:
05:38 PM, 12/ 1/10
is dyzio the new kingon? I couldn't understand a word of that
dansmith says:
06:36 PM, 12/14/10
THIS NUGGET OF INFO LEAVES SPECULATION WIDE OPEN:
I swapped emails with John Mcelroy a few days ago. And he told me that Giles' new Snake is going to be derivative of the 010 model, and not steal any design cues from Ferrari. But there's one very big problem with the explanation. The 010 car's entire hood section was swiped directly from the Ferrari Maranello 575 GTC Evoluzione; and I mean everything. But since the EVO wasn't actually a production machine..., I guess Giles doesn't consider it to count; sort of. But then, car designers rarely ever give credit to other machines that actually provided the inspiration for their own work; make that "NEVER."
At any rate, this does tell me that the new Viper will roughly follow the same glide path as the Corvette C7; shorter, lighter, quicker, more agile, more sophisticated. A turbo V8 certainly isn't out of the question, and I'm expecting it to cost about the same. They may even go to a two-tiered pricing strategy, with the Turbo Car getting all of the Super-Lux items standard. That way, the "entry" model could be promoted as a lean, mean, Superleggera iteration.