Selling The Viper Costs As Much As Buying A Dart

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Chrysler dealers hoping to sell the SRT Viper will have to pony up $25,000 – about the price of a loaded Dodge Dart – to be able to sell the supercar.

What does the $25 grand get you? The $25,000 fee is actually part of a two-tier system, outlined by Automotive News as such

“• For $5,000 each, any of the 2,347 Chrysler Group dealerships may buy a base agreement for tools, equipment, training, signs and, perhaps most important, preferential ordering and additional allocation of such vehicles as the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, says Ralph Gilles, head of the SRT brand.

• For an additional $20,000, the high-performance agreement also permits dealers to sell the Viper.”

SRT boss Ralph Gillies described the typical SRT buyer as “…much higher income, much higher education levels…”, which could be marketing speak for “we’re not selling them to office cleaning company founders anymore”. Of course, the bit about “additional allocation of SRT Jeeps”, is an interesting clause too, isn’t it?

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Sep 24, 2012

    Ah, so now the creation of a standalone SRT brand makes more sense. Existing dealer franchise agreements are for specific brands. New brands, and cars sold under those new brands, aren't covered by existing contracts. If the dealers want to carry the new in-demand hot product, they're going to have to pay more. I wonder if Chrysler made dealers pony up when they rebranded the truck line to Ram.

  • Volt 230 Volt 230 on Sep 24, 2012

    why not have the customer order directly from Dodge and then have it delivered to a nearby dealer who in turns gets a small fee for the service?

    • See 1 previous
    • Aristurtle Aristurtle on Sep 25, 2012

      Dealer? Why not deliver it straight to my house after I select my options and order from the website, like every other industry in the 21st century? Oh, right, because half the people in my state legislature are family members of dealership owners.

  • Th009 Th009 on Sep 24, 2012

    $25K is not much. I recall the VW dealers' investment to sell the Phaeton (back in the day) was on the order of $100K.

    • See 4 previous
    • Wheeljack Wheeljack on Sep 24, 2012

      @acuraandy You have to remember that the whole chassis of the Viper is adjustable - not just the typical front toe like most cars, but you can also adjust front and rear caster and camber and rear toe as well. Add to that the fact that you can adjust front dynamic toe by either adding or removing shims from the steering rack and rear dynamic toe by changing shim plates for the toe control links and you have a vehicle that really takes some expertise to set up properly. To do it right, It also must be aligned at "design height" which requires the suspension to be loaded down below curb height by a certain amount. The Vipers I've driven had what I would describe as "mild to almost nonexistant" understeer which is probably a lot safer than oversteer. Plus, it's plenty easy to dial in oversteer with the skinny pedal :) My brother in law was giving me some guff a few weeks back about how the Vipers have issues with a particular corner at PPIR but Corvettes don't. I countered with my assessment that either the drivers don't know how to handle the car properly or they aren't set up right, which is what I suspect was wrong with the one you drove - bad set up/alignment. It's hard to argue with the fact that the Viper holds the 'ring record, so it's clearly capable when set up properly and driven by someone who knows how to get the most out of the car.

  • Philadlj Philadlj on Sep 24, 2012

    Did they do this with the old Dodge Viper?

    • See 1 previous
    • 28-Cars-Later 28-Cars-Later on Sep 24, 2012

      @HeeeeyJake Sounds very much like Chrysler's formerly oldest operating dealer (as of the 2009/10 culling) Beckman Chrysler of Mt. Oliver PA, founded in I believe 1914. Still on their third generation (and those daughters are prob in their early 60s) they still operate as a used lot and may still have access to the Chrysler sale at the auction since they have a few low mileage 2012s on their lot. I 'get' the need for culling and then I don't... if someone can move a hundred new cars a year for you and whom may have done business with you for generations, then why cut them and ruin their small business.

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