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The Viper has always been the crown jewel of the Chrysler Group’s performance car lineup and the star player in many young automotive enthusiasts’ dreams. With the 2013 model recently revealed, this still stands true, adding more power, better performance and exquisite design cues to drool over. But with the model’s relaunch comes questions, and that’s why the crew over at Autoblog sat down with President and CEO of SRT, Ralph Gilles to get some of the answers we’re all dying to hear.
Now thanks to special sound deadening material in the transmission tunnel that also manages heat, riding in the Viper will no longer be quite so loud or toasty inside the cabImages: SRT
The Viper definitely seems to carry some design cues similar to foreign super cars, so what percentage of the car is truly American? Well according to Gilles, about 95 percent. The other five percent is made up in the seats, which are apparently from the same supplier that Ferrari uses. Other than that, Gilles told Autoblog that the car is “all American.”
With 640hp and the recent announcement that Viper will be returning to the American Le Mans series, everyone is thinking racing.
When asked about his personal Viper racing experience and how it influenced the car’s changes, Gilles stated that his experience helped him to hone in on the previous generations chassis weaknesses and adjust them.
He also told Autoblog that it took him almost 10 years to really know how to drive the car and the goal of the new Viper is to allow anyone to “extract the best” out of the car, adding, “It still has a bite to it, but it’s subdued. But I’ll tell you, this car is incredible, you wear this car, you don’t manage it, you wear it.”
Viper drivers no longer have to fear the "Viper kiss" burn from the exhaust with the model's new cast exhaust tip.
Autoblog also asked Gilles about some of the old issues with the car, like the hot side exhaust pipes and near boiling interior temperatures when the transmission tunnel would heat up, as well as about the potential for a future roadster model. Gilles told Autoblog that measures have been taken to fix the problems, but wouldn’t talk about the roadster.
One of the more interesting questions Autoblog asked was about the name transition from the Dodge Viper to the SRT Viper and how the SRT brand will get people to drop the Dodge prefix in front of the model name.
This didn’t seem to phase Gilles, as he responded that he wasn’t worried about it and that people traditionally call the car just by its model name anyway.
Autoblog also got some bonus information in their interview about another SRT car everyone’s been wondering about lately. Didn’t know quite what that car was in the background of the recent 60 Minutes feature? Well, Gilles told Autoblog that it “wasn’t exactly a Barracuda” but rather a student model of some sort.
OK Gilles, we can tell that there are some things you aren’t ready to reveal quite yet, but we’ll be looking for more answers and some new model information in the near future.
