Dodge knocks off $15K to spur sales of pricey new Viper
In fact, Viper sales have been so low for so long that some Chrysler Group dealers mockingly refer to the car as the "Vedsel," a reference to Ford's ill-fated Edsel.
But today Dodge said it has a plan to boost Viper sales.
The brand will cut $15,000 from the sticker price of the more than 600 unsold Vipers on dealer lots. It also will offer $15,000 coupons to recent Viper buyers to trade in their 2013 or 2014 Viper on another one or to buy an additional Viper, and it will open Viper sales to all Dodge dealers.
In addition, Dodge will market Viper with the rest of the brand's lineup, treating the 640-hp, V-10-powered car as a halo vehicle.
Dodge will start taking orders for 2015 Vipers this month, although it will temporarily suspend production of the top-end GTS and TA trims.
Instead, the brand will introduce a GT trim level just above the base that will have the most popular equipment sought by Viper customers, Dodge brand head Tim Kuniskis told Automotive News.
"I think the current car is so much better than any other Viper we've ever built, but we've got to fix the one last piece: We've got to fix the retail equation. We've got to fix what's going on in the dealership, in the showroom," Kuniskis said. "It's the dealer network, it's the inventory, it's the pricing, it's how we sell the car. We have to fix all of that."
Poor sales
When the re-engineered Viper arrived in the second quarter of 2013, the base price was more than $100,000. Some dealers tacked on market adjustments that boosted prices even higher.
Since April 2013, the Viper has averaged just 60 U.S. sales per month, according to the Automotive News Data Center. In August, dealers nationwide sold just 38 Vipers, down 38 percent from a year earlier.
On Sept. 1, dealers and Chrysler had more than 600 unsold Vipers in stock — a 434-day supply — and about one-third of those vehicles were unsold 2013 models.
Chrysler's Conner Avenue plant in Detroit, where the Viper is built, has worked just 10 days since April 14 and has been idled since July 3.
Given the slow sales, some dealers and outside observers have questioned whether the car that debuted in 1991 should be retired.