Photo: Dodge
In 1992, Dodge responded to the challenge of making the best American supercar possible with the Viper. In 2017, the Viper story will come to a halt for two reasons: poor sales and a federal safety standard.
Despite the fact that Fiat Chrysler tried to liven things up by knocking $15,000 off the original suggested retail price, the Dodge Viper sold just 676 units in 2015. Yes, 676 cars around the world over the course of 12 months. To put that figure into perspective, the C7 Corvette sold 2,673 units in the U.S. alone in May.
Starting from 2017, federal safety standard FMVSS #226 mandates that all new passenger cars will need to be equipped with side curtain airbags. As such, the Viper’s days are numbered. At the 2016 Detroit Auto Show, Sergio Marchionne alluded that an all-new Viper could happen, but it will have to share its platform with existing products. Giorgio platform, perhaps?
Nevertheless, the days of the Viper with a bespoke chassis are numbered, that’s for sure. In a release titled “Dodge Celebrates 25th Anniversary and Final Year of Viper Production with Five Exclusive Limited-Edition Models,” the manufacturer is telling us that the order books for those final Vipers units open on June 24.
Those special editions come in the form of the Dodge Viper 1:28 Edition ACR (28 units), Dodge Viper GTS-R Commemorative Edition ACR (100 units), Dodge Viper VoooDoo II Edition ACR (31 units), Dodge Viper Snakeskin Edition GTC (25 units), and Dodge Dealer Edition ACR (33 units). And no, neither one of them brings more horsepower or torque to the table. Still, they're pretty special in their own way.
“The Dodge Viper has had a great run, and 25 years after it was first introduced, it leaves the supercar world reaching for the records it continues to set,” said Tim Kuniskis, head of passenger cars at Dodge, Chrysler, and Fiat. “With more track records than any production car in the world, the Dodge Viper ACR will live on as the fastest street-legal Viper track car ever, the car that has set the benchmark for all that follows in its tracks.”
Starting from 2017, federal safety standard FMVSS #226 mandates that all new passenger cars will need to be equipped with side curtain airbags. As such, the Viper’s days are numbered. At the 2016 Detroit Auto Show, Sergio Marchionne alluded that an all-new Viper could happen, but it will have to share its platform with existing products. Giorgio platform, perhaps?
Nevertheless, the days of the Viper with a bespoke chassis are numbered, that’s for sure. In a release titled “Dodge Celebrates 25th Anniversary and Final Year of Viper Production with Five Exclusive Limited-Edition Models,” the manufacturer is telling us that the order books for those final Vipers units open on June 24.
Those special editions come in the form of the Dodge Viper 1:28 Edition ACR (28 units), Dodge Viper GTS-R Commemorative Edition ACR (100 units), Dodge Viper VoooDoo II Edition ACR (31 units), Dodge Viper Snakeskin Edition GTC (25 units), and Dodge Dealer Edition ACR (33 units). And no, neither one of them brings more horsepower or torque to the table. Still, they're pretty special in their own way.
“The Dodge Viper has had a great run, and 25 years after it was first introduced, it leaves the supercar world reaching for the records it continues to set,” said Tim Kuniskis, head of passenger cars at Dodge, Chrysler, and Fiat. “With more track records than any production car in the world, the Dodge Viper ACR will live on as the fastest street-legal Viper track car ever, the car that has set the benchmark for all that follows in its tracks.”
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