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Mopar, SRT, and Dodge fanatics hoping, wishing, praying the Viper will be resurrected for sixth generation are about to have a bad day. It’s not happening.
In Detroit, Michigan during an exclusive one-on-one discussion for the latest episode ofThe Drivecast, Head of SRT, Tim Kuniskis told The Drive when asked if the Dodge Viper makes sense anymore or if that era is gone, “As much as it pains me to say that, it reached the end of its life cycle.”
Listen to the entire conversation starting at the moment Kuniskis discusses the Viper and its death.
Most armchair critics might think the Viper died due to emissions regulations, it did have a V10 engine, or low sales, but neither was the case. Kuniskis revealed the real reason the Viper died. “I mean, when they came out with the new rule for ejection mitigation, we had to discontinue the car because you would have to put airbags right over you—as a driver, right over your ear. And you sat in the car. It’d be impossible,” Kuniskis said.
During the discussion Kuniskis made a point to note, “The track capability of that car was absolutely astounding. If you think about what it was—I mean, it was an analog car with a manual transmission, and it could hold its own against anything in the world. Technology doesn’t matter. I mean, it was just that good.” But the Father of the Hellcats isn’t blinded by love as he quickly followed that statement with, “But it had its downsides. I mean, let’s be honest. I own one, so I’m allowed to bash it. If you don’t own one, you can’t because we’ll fight. But if you own one, you can bash it.”
And to that point, the Viper was an analog car in a timeline where technology, and performance metrics, were marching on. The quickest and fastest Porsche 911s around a racetrack require a dual-clutch automatic transmission. “Honestly, in today’s day and age, it would have needed to become an automatic or a dual-clutch or something like that,” Kuniskis noted.
Imagine a world with a Viper featuring an automatic transmission. Hard to think about, but clearly on the executive’s mind. Earlier in the conversation just before talking about the Viper, Kuniskis noted that “I think about the C8 [Corvette] all the time.” Explaining further, Kuniskis went on to say, “I am incredibly impressed with the engineering of that car. There’s some things I don’t like, of course, you know, and I’m biased, obviously. But there’s some things that were in that car—and I’ve had a chance to meet Tadge and talk to him about the car in the past—and it’s an impressive car, and the engineering in it is highly impressive.”
Closing the topic of the Viper and its place in the world Kuniskis said, “It reached the end of its life cycle.”
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As Director of Content and Product, Joel draws on over 15 years of newsroom experience and inability to actually stop working to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media. He’s also a World Car Award juror.
