The snake is back - and it's going to slinkier than ever! Main man at Dodge Ralph Gilles says the born-again 2013 Viper will be “drop-dead beautiful”, its look inspired by “a naked woman on the beach”.
The multi-talented Gilles is also Chrysler's head of design; speaking at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, he made the point that the Viper has old-fashioned, classic sports-car proportions.
“Where the cabin is, relative to the wheels, is unique. The Viper cabin is very rearward and the hood is very long. Few cars in the industry are designed with those proportions anymore.”
Dodge needs a seriously sexy flagship car; only 392 Vipers were sold in 2010, the last production year of the original series. But Gilles says it will still be all-American; it won't be based on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, as some sources suggested, and it won't have a Ferrari engine.
It's more likely to have a tweaked version of the previous 8.4-litre, 450kW+ V10.
Nevertheless, Gilles is happy to take advantage of ltalian expertise in handling and road-holding.
“Fiat has an awesome ability to tune cars. I want the new Viper to be a more forgiving car to drive and accessible to more people. We've never had stability control on a high-performance car, which is about to happen on the new car.”
Expect to see the world premiere of the 2013 Dodge Viper sometime in 2012.