Sunday, May 19, 2013
The 2013 Dodge Viper Rumor or Reality
In mid-2010, Ralph Gilles said the 2012 Dodge Viper, if approved, would use weight-saving expertise, materials, and technology (but not parts) from Ferrari, with a V-10 derived from the current 8.4L engine. Gilles said the Viper will always be V10 powered, but that there might be a V8 powered sibling (presumably along the lines of the once-proposed, Daimler-rejected Chrysler Firepower). In December 2010, he told Detroit News that "everything would be changed," but it would not be based on Ferrari or Alfa underpinnings; and that the dimensions were quite dissimilar from the Alfa 8C.
The engine is likely to be new, and there are many possibilities: a revised version of the LA V8-based V10 the Viper has always used, a V10 based on the Pentastar V6 (though this would probably require a prohibitive amount of engineering money, unless Fiat planned to use the same engine in a Ferrari or Maserati), a Hemi-derived powerplant (though again the engineering costs woul
d be high), and a V10 based on a Fiat design are all possible.
Gilles did add in December 2010 that he was looking to Fiat to help tune the new Viper’s chassis, making it more controllable by ordinary drivers, and that it would arrive in 2012 as a 2013 model; it has been in development and has been approved by Chryslers board.
A 2013 Viper prototype was driven into the September 2010 dealer meeting, to the amazement of everyone there. It is apparently a big styling change which was apparently universally esteemed by those who saw it. The looks are more upscale, and the product committee took just five minutes to unanimously approve the car. One observers said it was “dramatic and awesome.”
The 2012 (production) mockup was apparently closer to the second generation Viper in appearance; the main deviation from the second-generation Viper was in the nose. The overhangs are much smaller, though the wheelbase appears to be the same; and there are definite Firepower cues.
One clue as to the new V10 engine was in the Dodge Challenger V10 Drag Pak and Viper ACR-X, which share an 8.4-liter, 512 cubic-inch engine producing 640 horsepower.
