Viper in Trouble?

[McRat]

By selling a whole 36 examples in June, they set a new all time low sales record.

Traditionally June is a good month for sportscar sales, so it's a double whammy. Chrysler's sales are up 9% from last June.

To put it in perspective, GM sold 7000% more Vettes in the same month, and can't make enough of them to keep up with demand.

Even the expensive and rare Z/28 outsold the Viper.

http://www.torquenews.com/106/corvet...viper-declines

But maybe it's the price?

Nope. Porsche sold 809 911 sportscars in June.

[v8]

The reason the vettes are selling so good is they just got re-designed and everyone wants one. Also they are a lot cheaper than a Viper, close to 1/2 price of one depending on how you option it up. The sales of corvettes will drop off in a year or two. Just look at the ZL1, was crazy in 2012 with the dealer mark ups, and then in 14 they were discounting the 13's so heavily as they were sitting.

I do have to wonder why the viper sales are so low? That is puzzling....

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by v8

The reason the vettes are selling so good is they just got re-designed and everyone wants one. Also they are a lot cheaper than a Viper, close to 1/2 price of one depending on how you option it up. The sales of corvettes will drop off in a year or two. Just look at the ZL1, was crazy in 2012 with the dealer mark ups, and then in 14 they were discounting the 13's so heavily as they were sitting.

I do have to wonder why the viper sales are so low? That is puzzling....

The current Viper is only a few months older than the Corvette, so they should still be in the 'honeymoon' phase of a new-gen car just like the Corvette right now. If anything, there should have been a bit of pent-up demand for the Viper because of the 2-3 years that it was out of production between the 4th and 5th generations.

[McRat]

It's not the price. US 911's sales are up, and their average price is higher than the Viper.

[McRat]

I'm going to predict that Dodge is going to leave the supercar business like Ford did.

But I don't think it will affect Corvette development, as Corvette is now competing with Europe and Japan instead.

[AZCamaroFan]

the novelty of the Viper has worn off. It has brutal performance, but so do all the other sports cars today, but with more refinement. It's 100k now. People looking in that price range are business professionals, mostly over 40. Look at a doctor's parking lot. You see Porsche's, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, some Corvette's. There's even the new Jaguar F-Type out there now.

[Eagleone]

It just doesn't look good fellas.

[wakespeak]

Its the price. Sure 911s cost around same but people are willing to pay it.

Reminds me when I sold my first car, an '88 Honda Accord. It was about 4 years old at the time. I listed it at $6000, 1 call. Dropped the price to $5800, had about 6 calls, but did not sell. Dropped price to $5600 phone rang constantly and sold that weekend.

[01pewterz28]

Originally Posted by Eagleone

It just doesn't look good fellas.

Exactly it looks like the old Viper (lines) where Chevy went outside the box with both he 5th Gen and Corvette.

[shaffe]

I think it is the price as well. I think they need to differentiate the Viper line up more. I know the viper was always about raw v-10 performance, but I think they would sell more if they had maybe a "base" model more in line with say a base Vette.

Imagine if GM just sold Z06 Corvettes...

[v8]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

The current Viper is only a few months older than the Corvette, so they should still be in the 'honeymoon' phase of a new-gen car just like the Corvette right now. If anything, there should have been a bit of pent-up demand for the Viper because of the 2-3 years that it was out of production between the 4th and 5th generations.

Good points

[Col. Brain]

Originally Posted by McRat

It's not the price. US 911's sales are up, and their average price is higher than the Viper.

Porsches are expensive. Most Americans know and understand this. A 911 is also a status symbol. You drive one and people think you have money.

Vipers have always been a slight premium over the hot rod Corvettes.
Older ZR1 was 40 or 50k and the RT10 was 50-60 (cant remember)

Then the Z06 was 50k and the Gen 3s were 60-70k.
Gen 4s pushed upwards of 90k when the Z06 was 70-90k

But the ZR1 was 120 but GTS Vipers are 150k???????? Not to mention a wee bit slower than the outgoing ZR1.

The TA imo is priced right but the damage has been done.

Dealers wont let you sit in the car let alone test drive one. They rope them off and put huge mark ups on them (i had an issue with my local dealer - and now they have 3 sitting in their show room)

The SRT should have stickered at 80-85 and went from there
Poor marketing
poor performance
poor product
poor price

all worked hand in hand to kill the gen v

[motorhead]

I think the fact that the redesign looks worse than the last year of the last model along with the fact that the press didn't give it a very good review has much to do with it's failure. It also cost way too much for what you get. There are much better cars for the same money and people that can afford cars in that price range are smart enough to know that.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Col. Brain

Porsches are expensive. Most Americans know and understand this. A 911 is also a status symbol. You drive one and people think you have money.

Vipers have always been a slight premium over the hot rod Corvettes.
Older ZR1 was 40 or 50k and the RT10 was 50-60 (cant remember)

Then the Z06 was 50k and the Gen 3s were 60-70k.
Gen 4s pushed upwards of 90k when the Z06 was 70-90k

But the ZR1 was 120 but GTS Vipers are 150k???????? Not to mention a wee bit slower than the outgoing ZR1.

The TA imo is priced right but the damage has been done.

Dealers wont let you sit in the car let alone test drive one. They rope them off and put huge mark ups on them (i had an issue with my local dealer - and now they have 3 sitting in their show room)

The SRT should have stickered at 80-85 and went from there
Poor marketing
poor performance
poor product
poor price

all worked hand in hand to kill the gen v

Most of that is simply inflation though. 50k two decades ago is about 80k today. And don't forget that a Viper from twenty years ago was, objectively, a terrible car. You got a big engine wrapped in some sleek bodywork and thats pretty much all there was to it. If anything, the car of today justifies its price far more than the 1st gen cars did theirs.