Viper Due To Come Back Out!

Next-Gen Dodge Viper Training For Super Car Olympics

This article is attributed to Autoweek.com and thier Dodge chapter.

It doesn’t take much poking around at Dodge to find out that there are two programs exciting the folks who work there but not yet evident at dealerships. A new Viper is expected to into production in mid-2012 for the 2013 model year, and an as-yet-unnamed compact car will replace the Caliber and go head-to-head with the big news makers across town, the Ford Focus and the Chevrolet Cruze.

Dodge CEO Ralph Gilles confirmed the Viper program during the run-up to this year’s Detroit auto show in January, but for the most part, we know more about what it isn’t than we know about what it is. Gilles is a faithful Viper partisan who maintains that the V10 is integral to the car’s identity but concedes that other engines might appear “also,” rather than “instead.”

Remembering that Dodge is sharing a stable with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo under Fiat’s roof, some have speculated that the hardware could be borrowed from the likes of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. Gilles denies that, too, even as he entices us with word that he visit Ferrari and found a lot of ideas (not hardware, emphatically not hardware) that could be borrowed to reduce weight and enhance performance.

Last Viper ever created?... I think not!

Then there were those widespread reports about Gilles saying that the new Viper’s body design was “inspired by a naked woman on the beach.” We’re not sure if he meant the general concept of a naked woman on the beach or a specific woman on a specific beach. The report did come, after all, shortly after the car was discussed at a dealer meeting in Florida. The dealers who will talk about it said that the car looked exciting and “different,” while Gilles’s most revealing comment is that the signature styling cue is a long hood, with the cabin set way back toward the back axle.

Gilles has also said that the new Viper is likely to surrender to the to the 21^st century on the matter of electronic driver assistance and that he wants it to be more accessible to more drivers. All of this worries Viper-its, who could maybe stand to remember that the guy in charge of the whole Dodge operation is one of them, from his shaved pate down to his driving mocs.

It’s a little easier to get a read on the coming compact car, which could be named the Dodge Hornet. Don’t look to the Hornet concept car form a few years ago for styling cues, though, since that was built in anticipation of a smaller car to be built with Chinese partners, an idea abandoned during the bankruptcy process and the shotgun marriage to Fiat. Instead, Gilles has confirmed, the Dodge will be a sedan derived from the five-door Alfa Romeo Giulietta, with distinctive American styling.

The Giulietta might come here itself in 2014 or so (with other Alfas), but the sedan will be built in the United States (according to Fiat boss Sergrio Marchionne) starting late this calendar year.

Powertrains in Europe run form the same little Fiat “Multiair” four seen in the U.S.-market Fiat 500 up to a turbo four making more than 230 hp. What will it look like? That will have a Dodge grille and sedan body form are all we know for sure.

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