Viper Production Resumed
Last April, Chrysler decided to pause production of the Viper, since a large number of them were sitting unsold on dealer's lot. The inventory was at 756, which was more than a year's supply. The production was officially stopped on April 14, and 91 workers were sent home.
On June 23, those workers were allowed to go back to work at the Conner Avenue Plant. However, this does not mean that the problems are over for the V10-powered beast. With a starting price of more than $100,000 dollars, the Viper struggles to find buyers: only 400 of them have been sold since January. Furthermore, Chevrolet's new high-powered Corvette, the Z06, will offer some pretty stiff competition to Chrysler's coupe when it comes out. If both cars boast between 640 and 650 HP, the Chevy will have an advantage of 50 lb-ft of torque, it will weigh less and will features more novel technologies, which will certainly help it post faster lap times.
Unless Chrysler is preparing a Hellcat-powered revival for the Viper, we don't expect the coupe's future to be too bright...