2013 Dodge Viper to debut at 2012 New York Motor Show

2013 Dodge Viper to arrive at 2012 NY Auto Show

The ultimate American Muscle car – the Dodge Viper – is to return to showrooms with an all new 2013 MY Viper launching at the 2012 New York Auto Show in April.

There was a time – in the mire of Chrysler’s woes – when there was a chance the world would lose the mad muscle car that is the Dodge Viper.

But Chrysler managed to rise Phoenix-like from the ashes of its financial turmoil, to be given a lifeline from Sergio Marchionne’s desire to rule the auto world with Fiat, and common sense returned.

So, although the Dodge Viper is currently out of production, Chrysler are planning a new Viper to reassert the American Muscle Car’s place in a car world obsessed by eco-priorities. And quite right to.

With Fiat pulling the strings at Chrysler the Interwebs have been crammed with conjecture about the new Viper, from a Ferrari engine to a re-badged Maserati. But Chrysler would be barking mad to change the recipe that’s worked for American Muscle cars since they first tickled American car buyer’s fancy generations ago.

That means big cubic inches and a bonnet that goes on forever. But what will be underneath the new Viper?

It seems likely it will still come with a big V10 edging ever closer to 9.0 litres, but it also seems likely its platform will come from something already in the Fiat stable. That almost certainly means a Maserati platform, and probably the GranTurismo.

Using the GranTurismo’s platform would endow the Viper with an extra layer of class without diluting what really makes the Viper special – it’s sheer brute force and almost cartoon-like design.

But we’ll find out in New York in the Spring exactly what Chrysler have done to make the 2013 Dodge Viper the new American dream.

Source: Viper Club of America