That 5th generation of Viper is a major failure, both commercially and in the imagination stirring department is already a well established fact. If the best Dodge can do now is to add a set of ground effects that look eerily like the ground effects on the last ACR and rehash of the old stripes, the Viper should be put to rest, either permanently or at least until the time someone at Chrysler figures out that to stay competitive, the Viper has to be redesigned from the ground up.
For now, it is pretty sad to see that this is as good as it gets with the Viper. The lack of effort is painfully obvious. Instead of a separate design for the front and rear bumpers and rocker panels (incorporating some kind of skirts) there are front splitter, canards and this ancient looking rear wing that kills this car as a street worthy vehicle. Is the car lighter than the rest of the line up? Doubtful.
Does the car include a serious shot of horsepower compensating for the drag cause by the add on ground effects? Even more doubtful.
Can these ground effects and color scheme save the Viper? Not a chance!!! Yes, the car will sell (assuming the incompetent dealers do not get greedy as in the past) but it certainly will not change the fate of the Viper since the last ACR's claim to fame, the Nurburgring record is out of reach for the aging Viper, courtesy of Porsche 918 and McLaren P1.
The last ACR created news back in 2009 because it was obscenely impractical, purpose build and visually distinct. Unfortunately, copying and pasting the same recipe on the current Viper is both predictable and disappointing. Certainly, the Viper team got lazy or tightly bound by the financial limitation. No matter what the reason may be, the disappointing result is there to seal the fate of this saddest of Viper survival attempts.
