Chrysler made a huge splash when it put the Viper into production way back in 1992. But over the course of some eighteen years and 22,000 units of production, we all became used to the idea of having the Viper around. Then it was discontinued about a year and a half ago, and we started missing America’s gnarliest of sports cars.
Fortunately the Viper is coming back, and coming back to the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant. The factory had been home to Viper assembly since it was moved there in 1995, but has laid dormant since July 2010. Now that the next-generation Viper is coming ’round the mountain, Chrysler is re-opening Conner Avenue to the tune of some 150 jobs. The re-opening of the facility makes Chrysler, in its own words, the only automaker with multiple assembly plants in Detroit proper.
Intriguingly, the press release after the jump refers to the upcoming new Viper not as a Dodge, but rather as an SRT product. The performance division was recently spun off by Chrysler into its own unit (much like the Ram truck brand was separated from Dodge), with Chrysler’s chief designer and former Dodge chief Ralph Gilles at its helm, and the language seems to indicate that the new Viper could be the brand’s first product.
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