No, no, no!

Say it ain’t so! This is terrible news!

Dodge is apparently going to begin negotiations for the sale of its “Viper” nameplate. Chrysler has always been the most anemic of the Big Three, and with Ford and GM both hit hard by the economy crisis, I can only imagine what the situation is like at Chrysler’s big brass. Must be hell.

But this is sad, terrible news, even though it was kind of expected. I had always hoped that Chrysler would find a way to keep the Viper alive, maybe as a low volume, limited production a year type of image car. But the financial strain was apparently too great, and now its the Viper that is under the axe.

This is personally rather distressing for me, as the Viper has always held a special spot in my heart (and that of many others). Though the Viper and Corvette have always blood enemies in competition, I hold them both in equal esteem and adoration. To me, they symbolize the epitome of the American muscle car, that is to say, a no frills, rude, obnoxious, rough, aggressive, and above all, powerful car. The Corvette and the Viper aren’t elegant, they aren’t refined, they have absolutely no finesse— instead they’re just dominant, raw, and beastly, and that scares the crap out of everyone else.

To hear that the Viper, an icon of Dodge and of America, is going to be sold… well, my day just got a little less bright. I hear that it might be sold to a tuning company, or a group of investors, whatever it is, I hope that at least in stays in America (if it becomes the Tata Viper I’ll shoot myself). The look might stay the same, the badge and performance might remain, but it will no longer be the Dodge Viper, and that’s a damn shame.

Gentlemen, we have a race … OK, that’s how you start a Gold Cup event, but what the hell, it applies here.

Enough’s enough, as far as I’m concerned … lots of roll outs of electric “cars” that “hopefully” will be seen in prototype form by 2013, half-thought out golf carts calling themselves cars … besides Tesla, everyone is just running press releases up the flag pole and see who salutes.

Dodge plays different though, seems like they got a bunch of new electric cars in the pipeline, and they’ll be out by 2010, but the one that interests me the most is the sportscar version seen here. Based on the upcoming Lotus Europa (or if not in actuality, it sure LOOKS like it is), it seems to be a serious car.

Dodger says the EV sports a lithium-ion battery pack with a 150-200 mile range, and, can sprint from 0-60 in less than 5 seconds.

OK, we’ll see if it lives up to that.

But if this comes to market as promised, heres the scenario I see in the not to distant future:

It’s 2011 and you’re blasting down the coast road, heading out of Pacifica, up and over that hill by Rockaway, just before the surf parking lot you stop at that light, wanting to get up and over and see how your new Dodge EV sportscar handles The Devil’s Slide … when pulling onto the road from the left comes some guy in his Tesla.

Gentlemen, we have a race … not that I would encourage or condone ANYTHING like that.

Source: LeftlaneNews

By now everyone’s heard of Chrysler’s new incentive in which they offer to lock in a gallon of gas at $2.99 for up to three years on a new Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep vehicle, up to 12,000 miles a year of course. Sweet deal, aye? So that leaves just one question; what’s the catch? And yes, there is a catch, or a few rather.

First off, hats off to Cerberus! They’re turning Chrysler around, per se… well at least that’s what’s going around the rumor mill. There was once a rumor that the “new” Chrysler had intended to reduce its fleet by switching the brands around and placing them in pairs, accordingly. For example, all cars were to fall under the Chrysler nameplate, all trucks Dodge, and all SUV’s Jeep. This does and doesn’t make since. It makes sense because they would be eliminating over-expenditures on vehicles that are essentially the same (ala Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum, and Dodge Charger). But at the same time, some people are brand-loyal and renaming the Dodge Charger a Chrysler Charger might not fair too well with “enthusiasts.”

The newest rumor, which is essentially the same as the rumor mentioned above is that Chrysler is reducing its fleet in half. This maneuver is said to have been already signed off on, though the specifics aren’t known as of yet. Two vehicles which shall be no more, “supposedly,” and thankfully, are the Jeep Compass and Jeep Commander. The Commander is essentially a Grand Cherokee with a third row and uglier styling, while the Compass is just ugly, and not as capable as its big bro, the Patriot. But anyway, back to the incentives. Continue Reading…