Viper strikes, but not for Oz

Forget it fellas, the venomous new SRT Viper V10 sports coupe is not coming to Australia. Street and Racing Technology (SRT) boss Ralph Gilles has quashed any hope of sending the lighter and more powerful fifth-generation Viper to our shores.

“It’d be a $20 million dollar investment to engineer the Viper for right-hand drive. And we’d need at least 500 units per year to make that viable.”

Which means Australia would need England and Japan to take the lion’s share of that volume, and that’s not likely given both countries’ road rules allow for low-volume left-hand drive cars.

So, we miss out on the new, lighter Viper and its all-aluminium 8.4-litre V10 engine good for an estimated 480kW. Gilles further estimates the Viper will hit 100km/h from rest in under four seconds.

Both the power and performance are 'estimates' because SRT doesn’t actually know yet. The car revealed at the New York motor show is an early prototype. Actual production doesn’t start until later this year.

The Viper is the first official ‘SRT’ model, which is why it no longer carries the ‘Dodge’ moniker. This is part of a plan to set SRT up as its own performance brand, similar to HSV and FPV.

It’s also the most advanced car ever from SRT, says Gilles. “It’s got ESC and launch control. It’s got adaptive suspension, variable valve technology, 4-channel ABS. We wanted to include all that but not at the expense of its performance soul. The car has the ability to turn all that off and go back to its roots with the flick of a couple of switches."

The Viper will be sold in two guises in America, Viper and Viper GTS, the latter with two-mode adjustable suspension. The Viper will also form the basis of SRT’s entry into the American Le Mans racing series.

It’s almost enough to make you want to move to America… but not quite.