Gen 2 Dodge Viper Rendered with Modern Styling Changes
Original Dodge Viper GTS Coupe with extra angles and unique lighting looks ready for today’s showroom.
As soon as it was announced that production of the Dodge Viper was ending after 2017, enthusiasts immediately began asking about the next generation. FCA representatives have not said anything that suggests that a new Viper is in the works and worse yet, one of my contacts within FCA told me that there is not a good business case for a new Viper right now. That leads me to believe that there is no new Viper on the immediate horizon, but plenty of people are still talking about the future of the Mopar supercar.
The folks at AutoEvolution recently featured a rendering of a 2001 Dodge Viper GTS Coupe with some modern styling cues, and it looks pretty great from this one angle. We don’t know if Dodge would actually build a new Viper with such heavy influence from the 1990s, but if they did, it would look a lot like the blue car above.
2001 Viper Goes Modern
The image above started as a 2001 Dodge Viper GTS Coupe, but the artist “SketchMonkey” added an array of unique cues to give it a more modern look. The most prominent features of the rear end are the slim LED taillights and the sharp, molded duckbill-style spoiler. Below, we have included an image of a stock Gen 2 Viper from the rear for comparison.
Along the sides, the artist has added some sharp body lines that run through the middle of the fender, door and quarter panel, creating a groove of sorts behind the rear wheels. There is also a sharper body line that runs around the perimeter of the taillight panel, giving the rear end a more pronounced look. Also, a set of sidepipes similar to the first generation RT/10 Roadster are in place and they fit the added body lines perfectly.
Finally, this 2001-turned-2021 Viper has large wheels over massive brakes, while appearing to sit a bit lower to the ground than the original car. It is not a stark departure from the 2001 design, but it is definitely more like the angular, modern Dodge styling.
Future Speculation
While there is seemingly no new Dodge Viper sitting on the horizon, there has been lots of chatter on social media about what the next Mopar supercar needs to succeed. Most notably, many people believe that Dodge should follow Chevy’s lead and move the engine to the rear of the driver’s compartment. That would certainly eliminate any chance of Gen 6 car that looks like a Gen 2 Viper, as the rear end proportions would be different with the engine relocation.
Next, many people including yours truly believes that it is time for the V10 engine to be replaced with something that offers better volumetric efficiency. The Gen 5 Viper was powered by a naturally aspirated 8.4-liter V10 that delivered 645 horsepower. During the earlier years of the Viper V10, the big 10-cylinder engine offered more power than almost all of the V8 competitors.
When the Viper was discontinued after 2017, it wasn’t even the most powerful vehicle in the Dodge lineup. The 6.2-liter Hellcat Hemi in the Challenger and Charger offers anywhere from 707 to 807 horsepower while also being considerably more efficient than the V10.
Switching to some variation of the Hellcat Hemi would help make the Viper more efficient while also making it less costly for the company. Less cost during production would lead to a lower price point and that would help draw in more buyers.
If Dodge were to create a new Viper with a version of the Hellcat Hemi with north of 800 horsepower, it would be a proper competitor to anything that Team Corvette can cook up.
FCA Media images of the Gen 2 Vipers
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