2014 Dodge Viper - Old Guys With Money

Chrysler made some minor headlines the other day when they announced that they were dropping the price on their slow selling Dodge Viper by $15,000. That means a new Viper still stickers for a shocking $85,000.

How slow is Viper selling? Dodge sold just 38 of them in August while Chevrolet sold 2,679 Corvettes. That's incredibly vexing for Chrysler in a market that has seen luxury sports car sales soar by 35% this year. What's more in a new car market that's the best its been in eight years, Chrysler sales over all are up an industry leading 14.3% through August and market share increasing a full percentage point. That's due largely to demand for its stable of trucks and sport-utility vehicles but still, that's impressive growth.

Why are Viper sales so bad? Several reasons the least of which has to do with the physical car; this Viper is awesome.

 

First, the market for high performance, two passenger cars is tiny and at least in the United States, Chevrolet literally owns the market with Corvette. What's more, Viper has to compete with this spectacular new Corvette that offers comparable performance for considerably less money. Even luxury car buyers appreciate value. Well, the ones that have half a clue as to what got them in a postion to have the kind of money it takes to buy one. 

When Dodge came out with Viper in 1992, despite its overall lack of refinement, it was a stronger performing car than Corvette. It's then eye watering $50,000 price tag (Dodge claims the $15,000 price cut on the new Viper puts it in line, adjusted for inflation, with the '92 Dodge Viper) seemed somewhat acceptable given the high level of performance its 400 horsepower V-10 engine provided.  The 1992 Corvette ZR-1 developed similar power to Viper but as for the base Corvette versus a base Viper, Corvette couldn't compete.

That's not the case anymore. Even the base Corvette is now a world class sports car the equal to anything even a 10 cylinder Viper can muster. What's more, buyers of these cars, those stereotypical "old guys with money", unless they're car collectors, usually don't have room for more than one "sports car" and if they did it's debatable if they'd buy a Viper to go along with whatever else they've purchased.

If you're so inclined, get your game face on and go into your local Dodge dealer and make them offer. You might be surprised by the kind of deal you get.