Dodge Viper production might end in 2017.

[OverVolt]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/15/9543621/dodge-viper-retired-out-of-production-future

When I was a kid growing up I always liked the dodge viper but as an adult its kind of meh. The only sold 760 in 2014. I had no idea so few were sold.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I'm not remotely a car guy, but yeah, when I was 10-12 years old I thought the Dodge Viper was the coolest thing ever and had all sorts of wallpapers and shit downloaded. I never see them on the road anymore, and I live in an affluent area where I see expensive and flashy cars all the time.

 

[bononos]

Its suffered the same fate as the Pontiac firebird. The Camarro will also stop production next year.

 

[NoTine42]

The Viper was a crazy amount of engine when it was introduced. Now that you can get a 4-seater Hellcat with 707hp for $20k less, what's the point of a Viper?

 

[zerocool84]

The Viper was a crazy amount of engine when it was introduced. Now that you can get a 4-seater Hellcat with 707hp for $20k less, what's the point of a Viper?

With cars like the Viper, it's the total package you pay for. Sure the Hellcat is fast in a straight line but there's also handling that come into play, the way a car feels when shifting, it's the whole experience.

 

[madoka]

Its suffered the same fate as the Pontiac firebird. The Camarro will also stop production next year.

1. Learn how to spell Camaro.

2. The all-new 2016 Camaro will be released in a few months, so production is not stopping on it.

 

[Ventanni]

The Viper was a crazy amount of engine when it was introduced. Now that you can get a 4-seater Hellcat with 707hp for $20k less, what's the point of a Viper?

Pretty much this. Dodge is competing against themselves in this one.

 

[Beer4Me]

Its suffered the same fate as the Pontiac firebird. The Camarro will also stop production next year.

Firebird suffered its fate because Pontiac as a brand was a failure. 2016 Camaro is basically a refresh i.e. all new car. As long as the Mustang is still around, so is the Camaro. I'm not a Chevy fan, but the 2016 Camaro is something to be excited about, a 12s 1/4 mile car for under $40k.

 

[DesiPower]

I am sure someone will buy it

 

[NoTine42]

With cars like the Viper, it's the total package you pay for. Sure the Hellcat is fast in a straight line but there's also handling that come into play, the way a car feels when shifting, it's the whole experience.

There's no doubt the Viper is a much better track day car, but that is a much more limited market. (An American made race car not named Corvette)

 

[OverVolt]

There's no doubt the Viper is a much better track day car, but that is a much more limited market. (An American made race car not named Corvette)

Yeah, there aren't that many tracks in America, mostly short tracks.

Mazda Laguna Seca in a dodge viper.

2nd gear...vrrrrrrr
3rd gear...vrrrrrr
2nd gear....vrrrrrr
3rd gear....vrrrrr

Road Atlanta in a dodge viper

2nd gear...vrrrrrrr
3rd gear...vrrrrrr
2nd gear....vrrrrrr
3rd gear....vrrrrr
Barely 4th gear for 0.5 seconds ermagerd
2nd gear...vrrrrrrr

 

[darkswordsman17]

Guess that means a Hellcat like supercharged version is off the table then. Unless they do it as a super limited final run or something.

Its suffered the same fate as the Pontiac firebird. The Camarro will also stop production next year.

The Camaro is doing about 100,000 in sales a year now, its not going anywhere any time soon.

The Viper was a crazy amount of engine when it was introduced. Now that you can get a 4-seater Hellcat with 707hp for $20k less, what's the point of a Viper?

The Viper engine makes less than 10% less power while weighing about 2/3 the weight (Viper is less than 500lbs, Hellcat is north of 700) of the Hellcat engine. The Charger and Challenger would probably be better cars if they'd have put the Viper engine in them instead (I'm guessing fit would be an issue on the Charger is one of the main reasons they didn't). Plus they could likely tune the engine to match the Hellcat's output without too much work.

I am sure someone will buy it

Someone will buy what? I haven't seen anything about them trying to sell it off yet. My guess is they just stop production and keep the nameplate so they can bring it back later.

 

[Pocatello]

Old people buy Corvettes, not the Vipers.

 

[MongGrel]

I wasn't aware they were still making vipers at all myself I guess, to be honest.

They always looked like high powered somewhat cheaply manufactured high end go carts to me.

I do not have the money for one, but if I did I imagine I wouldn't buy one anyway.

Thought they had all ready faded out, the car, not the engine.

 

[yinan]

For the price of the Viper couldn't you just buy a Tesla which is significantly cooler.

I can't wait till I can wait in line to buy the 35k Tesla. I will kill a man if I have to....

 

[JulesMaximus]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/15/9543621/dodge-viper-retired-out-of-production-future

When I was a kid growing up I always liked the dodge viper but as an adult its kind of meh. The only sold 760 in 2014. I had no idea so few were sold.

Who is going to buy a $100k car that nobody wants to drive?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Old people buy Corvettes, nobody buys Vipers.

FTFY

Oh, and old people are the only people buying Vipers.

 

[Zivic]

For the price of the Viper couldn't you just buy a Tesla which is significantly cooler.

I can't wait till I can wait in line to buy the 35k Tesla. I will kill a man if I have to....

define "cooler" ...

Personally I don't think the tesla is cooler. I'm not buying either car, but I doubt those that are, are not cross shopping a viper with a tesla

 

[yinan]

Faster, more comfortable and a hell of a lot cheaper on gas. Oh ya, the Tesla will also drive itself. Basically better in every possible way.

 

[KentState]

For the price of the Viper couldn't you just buy a Tesla which is significantly cooler.

I can't wait till I can wait in line to buy the 35k Tesla. I will kill a man if I have to....

Who compares a Viper to a Tesla? Why don't you throw in a pick up truck and a moped.

Faster, more comfortable and a hell of a lot cheaper on gas. Oh ya, the Tesla will also drive itself. Basically better in every possible way.

Where do you get faster? The Tesla is only fast off the line if you go AWD. A 115mph trap speed is pretty slow. Otherwise, it's a 5k lb pig of a car.

 

[mmntech]

I'm not really surprised by this. Supercars are a very niche market to begin with, and I just don't think there's much demand for American made ones. Not to say the Viper is a bad car, but most people with that kind of cash are focused on European cars. Fiat SpA already owns Ferrari and Maserati as their top marques.

It's also no secret that the Chrysler division is in big trouble. The CEO was just recently trying to pawn the company off to GM. Of course GM doesn't want it.

 

[KentState]

I'm not really surprised by this. Supercars are a very niche market to begin with, and I just don't think there's much demand for American made ones. Not to say the Viper is a bad car, but most people with that kind of cash are focused on European cars. Fiat SpA already owns Ferrari and Maserati as their top marques.

It's also no secret that the Chrysler division is in big trouble. The CEO was just recently trying to pawn the company off to GM. Of course GM doesn't want it.

GM can sell 35k+ Vettes a year with 5-6k being the Z06 model. The Ford GT is fully committed to as well. The real problem is that GM can make a profit off the Vette while the Viper is handmade and not commanding Ford GT prices. It's stuck somewhere in the middle which where it's the wrong kind of niche.

 

[pauldun170]

The issue with the Viper is that it's difficult to win a pissing match with the Viper.
It's the American TVR in a time when everyone is all about stats per dollar.

Also, its the Iroc-z of the super car world.
A lot of owners are more likely to drink beer, despite being in an income bracket where the expectation is that you drink Scotch. So when you say "I bought a Viper", its expected you also own a duallie and live in Texas. That's because people are snobs and like to shit on their neighbor when their neighbors think different.
Pricks

 

[Ferzerp]

Anyone who thinks the hellcat cars have anything to do with Viper slow sales are, well, to put it bluntly, exhibiting a laughable lack of understanding.

Firstly, other than being 600hp plus cars, they aren't the same demographic at all. No one looking at a Viper is going to say "hey, that hellcat has more hp, it must be a better sports car". That's just laughable. Second, Viper sales have always been crap. They've never been good. They release a new model, sell a couple thousand over a few years, and demand dies out. It's like the Corvette sales pattern, but over 50 times smaller. New car is released. Sales peak. Sales then taper off to about a quarter of the first year model sales after 5 or 6 years. This works for the Corvette because they sell enough to justify the R&D for the next model. For the Viper, the absolute best they can realistically hope for is pushing 5,000 cars throughout the whole run of a given design. It's always been that way. Actually, we might say 3,000 cars is the best they can hope for with a design. This makes absolutely no sense for a company like Dodge to do, especially now that the car is becoming an also ran in the high hp sports car arena. It sold marginally better when it seemed bonkers in comparison to all the competition. It really was a class of its own. Now though, in a sea of "similar" options (AMG GT, F-type, Z06, etc), it gets lost.

 

[jlee]

Faster, more comfortable and a hell of a lot cheaper on gas. Oh ya, the Tesla will also drive itself. Basically better in every possible way.

Nobody shopping for a Viper wants it to drive itself.

Do you have any idea why people buy fun cars?

Also, LOL at "My $140k car saves me so much money on gas."