So it’s official; the new Viper will be called an SRT Viper. Despite being sold at Dodge dealers, the car will be part of the company plan to make Street Racing Technology division its own brand. But, in this case we care less about branding than the actual vehicle – the Viper is coming back!
The launch is set to take place at the New York International Auto Show in April, but SRT has posted a teaser on its Facebook page. SRT said a while back if they got 10,000 likes Facebook likes they would release a teaser, and as promised, they’ve let out this new image of the front end.
As expected it is very vague and shrouded in darkness, but we get a few glimpses of the overall hood design. Company officials are really excited about the new car, which looks to continue being very Viper in character. That means American muscle, not the Ferrari-inspired type model some people were speculating about.
What will be changing though is having the Viper be a bit tamer and more refined – adding things like cruise control (the horror!) and cupholders.
The 2013 Viper will be manufactured at the Connor Avenue Assembly plant in Detroit, where 22,070 Vipers have been produced. It is Chrysler’s boutique plant, also home to the Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler. The plant has been idle since July 2010, but it will spring to life late this year.
Chrysler is asking employees who used to work at the plant to return again – they will report for training this fall. It’s really great to be seeing a modern American classic like the Viper being released again. Just a few years back we were unsure of its future. Chrysler was in dire financial straits, and just before it declared bankruptcy, they even tried to sell of Viper as a separate brand.
Fast forward to today and the Viper is a key part of the company’s plan to increase excitement around its performance line. We’re looking forward to many more years of Vipers ahead.
