Well, that didn't take long: Chrysler announces a $15,000 price drop on its slow-moving make that slow-selling 2015 Dodge Viper SRT on Monday morning, and by Monday evening, Bernie Katz already sold three of them.
Katz, partner with TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Viper driver Ben Keating in ViperExchange.com, the world's largest Viper dealer and part of a full-line Chrysler dealer in Tomball, Texas, said that the price cut quickly kindled a fire under undecided customers. "We have other deals working," Katz said, "and we're hearing from people all over the country." The $15,000 drop makes the base price for the freshly updated 2015 model just $84,995.
But wait, there's more! Select one of the unsold 2014 Vipers from the lot of A Dealer Near You, and you can get $15,000 on the hood, too. Additionally, there's a $15,000 voucher available to current-gen owners to use toward a new 2015 Viper or in conjunction with trading in their 2013 or 2014 model toward the new one.
The 2015 Viper gets a slight horsepower boost, but it won't be available until next year. If you're interested, you will be able to walk into any Dodge dealership and get one—currently availability is limited to select Viper stores. But if you can live with only 640 horsepower, you can get a tire-smokin' deal on a leftover. At Katz's dealer website, they currently list 23 new 2014 Vipers.
The base sticker price of a 2014 Viper Coupe is $99,885 before the $15,000 cut. But note that destination and delivery adds $1995, and the gas-guzzler tax another $2600 (the penalty for achieving EPA ratings of 12 mpg city and 19 highway). One very lightly-optioned 2014 model we found on Viper Exchange had only a few add-ons—$3000 for leather seats, $800 for upgraded Pirelli tires, and $1700 for fancier matte wheels. That adds up to a pre-discount sticker of $109,980, and just one of a handful of 2014 Vipers we found that listed for under $110,000. So prices can add up very, very quickly.
Which, Katz said, was a problem. There is no argument that the current-generation Viper is the nicest ever—standard stuff includes a contemporary and user-friendly navigation system and a 900-watt, 12-speaker sound system—and Dodge insists that, given inflation, the discounted 2014 Viper costs about the same as the $50,700 1992 model that included, well, basically a heater. Which you didn't really need given the absence of insulation and the hellaciously hot side pipes.
But let's face it: The MSRP of a base 2014 Chevrolet Corvette coupe is $53,995, and the 2015 will cost just $1000 more. And the brutal, new 2015 Corvette Z06 starts at $78,995. To insist that a new Viper, at pre-discount prices, is worth almost the price of two new regular Corvettes is a hard case to make. For what it is, "the new Viper is undervalued," Katz said. But asked what has kept the car from selling, Katz has a one-word answer: "Price."
Sales have been undeniably terrible since the car re-entered the marketplace as a 2013 model. Last month, Dodge sold just 38 Vipers while Chevrolet sold 2679 Corvettes. There have been Viper production cuts and layoffs and plant shutdowns.
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So this may be just what the Viper needs. Dodge would be delighted to sell 1500 Vipers a year. In fact, if just half the 2300 Dodge dealers that will be selling the Viper next near can move just one, the company would be far ahead of where it is now. "It's a great car," Katz said. "And this price cut should give more people a chance to learn that."
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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