Ralph Gilles Thursday 3/27 @6pm EST autoline.tv

[JBsZ06]

Www.autoline.tv 3/27 6 pm

Ralph Gilles is a guest on autoline after hours

The viper is a stunning car whose sales are soft so the plant is closing for a few months.

Some say it's the new corvette and some suggest it's the tenth of a second track time difference.

I suggest it's the disrespect SRT dealers threw at existing viper owners went to see the newly released version.

I suggest it was the roped off dealer viewing that did not allow existing viper owners to sit in the car.

Add in the market adjustment of 25 grand over and above MSRP and I think it turned off viper buyers.

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

Many reasons but the new Corvette along with its performance, pricing, and by far the best yet surely played a part in this. When the new Gen V came out SRT said its biggest competitor was the Ferrari but that was an over statement for sure. Other than its highly improved interior it just was not that over the top vs. the Gen 4 and GTS pricing IMO was over the top for many owners to digest. Im sure Ralph is not sleeping well on this temporary build status and layoffs, but as I know him he will make decisions to bring the Viper back in even more glory. Time will tell.

 

[JBsZ06]

The new viper is a great car. The problem IMHO had been the dealer markup on the arrival of the first model and roping off the car not allowing current viper owners to sit in the car.

 

[steve e]

I have always wondered if the car companies had any idea how bad the dealers were, and how many sales are lost. I have had bad experiences in NJ with Ford dealers and Dodge dealers, there is no way I am going to beg to buy a car from some A Hole. I always give it my best, but I wind up looking for something else. The only way I ended up having Vipers was getting them shipped from Woodhouse in Nebraska. There is a Ford dealer on route 23 close to where I live you would think he would try and sell a car to me. 2 Mustangs later both GT 500s shipped from Florida, how sad. On a low volume car like the Viper the dealers can kill a great car all by them selves

 

[George Farris]

IMO the dealers killed the Prowler ...

They never stopped asking $55K ...

 

[Jay M]

I have always wondered if the car companies had any idea how bad the dealers were, and how many sales are lost. I have had bad experiences in NJ with Ford dealers and Dodge dealers, there is no way I am going to beg to buy a car from some A Hole. I always give it my best, but I wind up looking for something else. The only way I ended up having Vipers was getting them shipped from Woodhouse in Nebraska. There is a Ford dealer on route 23 close to where I live you would think he would try and sell a car to me. 2 Mustangs later both GT 500s shipped from Florida, how sad. On a low volume car like the Viper the dealers can kill a great car all by them selves

I have to agree. I was treated so bad at my local Dodge dealer when I was looking for an SRT8 Jeep that my wife was frightened and left the dealer. The sales manager yeld at me and the salesman saying that there are no test drives on SRT8 cars. Surprisingly, the salesman ignored his boss and gave me a test drive. I wasn't ready to buy that day, but when the day came I decided to buy the Jeep elsewhere.

Now a year later, after many dealer visits, I have to say that I'll never buy a domestic car again. It's bad enough that such an expensive car has so many problems, but it's just insulting that the dealer has to treat you like crap in the process. Besides being treated like crap, the dealer's service center is completely incompetent. It took 4 people and an hour of my time just to get the tires inflated to factory spec. The service manager had to go to the gift shop and buy a tire pressure gauge and give it to the lead SRT tech.

When the new Viper is over $100,000, there are many other great cars to choose from where the dealers will treat you like royalty. The Viper is still a performance bargain, it's one of, if the THE most beautiful car on the road, and it's REALLY fun to drive. That said, when another car is almost as fast, almost as beautiful, about the same price, but more comfortable, and the dealers are good, then people might choose the lesser car over a Viper.

I just hope that what SRT said is true, that Viper sales has met their expectations. I like it being exclusive, but I also want to see it continue production. I would love the Viper as much if it were as common place as a Corvette or 911.

~Jay