Dodge Ram Hellcat-another nail in Dodge (former SRT) Viper's coffin

As much as Chrysler should be commended for rather exemplary horsepower and drag strip bitch slapping of the newest Corvette Z06, courtesy of Dodge Challenger and Charger Hellcats, there is a rather peculiar trend in the Chrysler's marketing campaign aimed at gearheads and power junkies in US and it is not one that benefits the already ailing Dodge Viper.

Typically, when mainstream auto manufacturer creates a halo car, it includes the most technology available and/or most horsepower.  This has been the case with Ford (Ford GT) and Chevrolet (Corvette C6 ZR1 and C7 Z06).

Until recently, this has also been the case with Chrysler and its halo car, Dodge Viper.  However, after Ralph Gilles botched the Generation 5 introduction, turning both the idiotic SRT pseudo brand and Generation 5 Viper into a textbook example of how not to market cars and making G5 Viper the epitome of sales failure, this is no longer the case.

After premature and certainly not voluntary departure of both SRT and Gilles, the new Dodge CEO Kunakis, literally dethroned the Viper from its former horsepower distinction.  The result is that the horsepower king title no longer belongs to the Viper, the king is dead and permanently replaced by the evil Hellcat twins.

So why is this a permanent condition and why Viper will be laid to completely undeserved rest at least for a while?  The answer lies in the newest Dodge concept vehicle: Dodge Ram Hellcat.

In the past, the Dodge Ram gained notoriety through serious power injection coming from no other but Dodge Viper SRT10, simply because this was the pinnacle of horsepower at Chrysler at that time, with Viper being the halo car and horsepower king.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case and the current iteration of V10 producing 645 hp in the latest Dodge Viper, no longer stirs up the attention that the Hellcat supercharged Hemi V8 gathers.  Sad but true but the Chrysler former horsepower king is no more and no longer it is an inspiration for Chrysler concept vehicles.

The Hellcat equipped Ram will certainly sell well since horsepower sells and outrageous horsepower at low price sells even better.  As much as the new Ram Hellcat concept spells the future for Chrysler, it also spells the end of the road for the Viper.  The fact that Chrysler is not willing to make accommodations for the Hellcat engine on the Viper platform and that the winged version of the Viper called ACR is as good as it gets for the Viper, is a rather strong clue that the Viper is officially dead, no matter how much Viper enthusiasts may argue the point.  Too bad Chrysler did not learn from Porsche that there is a difference between buyer loyalty driven exterior and anachronism and anachronism is exactly what Viper has become.

To make this point clear: in spite of visual heritage, Porsche 911 became a completely different car underneath, unlike the Viper that not only looks the same as its second generation but it is virtually unchanged underneath, including the obsolete short wheelbase chassis.