PARIS
—Traffic has ground to the usual standstill around the Arc de Triomphe.
But suddenly, unexpectedly, the phalanx of frustrated French drivers
parts, as if driven by Moses approaching the Red Sea.
With a
deep-throated roar, a procession of 18 cars enters the traffic circle.
One, two loops, before they spill out onto the Champs Elysees. From the
sidewalk, a pedestrian approaches one of the drivers as he waits at a
stoplight. Speaking first in French and then in broken English, he pleads,
"What are you driving?"
There aren't many cars that can provoke
such a reaction in staid Paris. But the Dodge Viper isn't your typical
car. Certainly not the new Viper GTS coupe, painted brash blue with two
not-so-subtly white racing stripes running from head to toe. It's the
second-generation remake of the original Viper roadster, the crudely
addictive sports car that joined the Dodge lineup nearly four years
ago.
The family resemblance is obvious, but with a hardtop, the GTS
coupe takes on an entirely new style and manner. It is curvaceous in the
manner of Mae West, sleek, sexy, yet somehow exaggerated.
To
preview the GTS, Chrysler took a group of reporters on a road rally
through Europe a few weeks back. The event mixed back roads and autobahns,
as well as a few laps on some of the continent's most famous race tracks,
perhaps the only place where it's possible to reach the performance limits
of Viper's massive V-10 engine.
"We started out wanting to just
put a top on the roadster, but then the vehicle began to evolve," explains
Viper Project Manager Roy Sjoberg.
Indeed, the new coupe represents
far more than just a cosmetic
change. The body and chassis are stiffer,
translating into a smoother, more controllable ride. And the car was put
on a strict diet.
"We shot for 200 pounds for the overall
reduction so that we could bring in the coupe at a lower weight than the
roadster," says Design Supervisor Charles Brown III.
To reach that
goal, Viper engineers had to pay plenty of attention to the smallest of
details. They redesigned the seats, used computer design programs to
reduce unnecessary metal from the frame. They even changed some of the
bolts on the engine, a move that shaved off 4.5 pounds.
And in the
process, they found even more power. The Viper GTS coupe now turns out 450
horsepower, 50 more than the original Viper engine.
Flat out on the
back straight at Germany's legendary Nurburgring race track, that
translated into speeds topping 164 miles per hour.
Speed isn't
everything, though plenty of Viper aficionados might beg to differ on that
point. But the coupe is clearly more refined than the roadster. It comes
with air conditioning, for one thing, as well as dual airbags.
The
original concept behind the Viper was to recreate the sort
of
brute-muscle sports car defined by the legendary Shelby
Cobra.
Chrysler banished gimmicks and gadgets, like turbocharging,
ABS
brakes and electronic shock absorbers, that have come to define the
modern sports car. The same philosophy holds true for the GTS coupe—with a
couple of exceptions.
Instead of door handles, the GTS uses a
discreetly mounted electronic push-button entry system. Press it, and the
door pops open. The other trick is a new system that allows the pedals to
move forward or back up to 4 inches.
"We had smaller drivers who
complained they couldn't reach the
pedals," points out Viper Engineer
Sandy Emerling.
Though the concept is found on a number of race
cars, Viper is the only production car to offer an adjustable pedal
system. Chrysler is studying the use of the concept on other models in the
future.
Chrysler spent approximately $70 million to develop the new
coupe and to make changes to the older roadster. That's barely what it
would cost to redesign the instrument panel on the Dodge Neon. But then
again, Chrysler will sell perhaps 200,000 or more Neons this year, 100
times more than the entire Viper run.
"We aren't going to make a
great deal of money," admits Sjoberg, "though we do break
even."
But there's another payoff in the form of image and
publicity. Everywhere the Vipers went, the crowds were sure to follow. The
students in one French schoolyard spent their entire lunch hour pressed
against a chain-link fence watching the 18 Vipers streak past.
In
the United States, there are already more orders than Chrysler can handle
for the next year. The first GTS coupes were delivered late last month,
with the average price topping $70,000, including taxes, delivery costs
and the few options available. Among the first to take delivery was
comedian Jay Leno, who also had purchased one of the first Viperroadsters.
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