Larry Jewett

SRT Brand and Motorsports President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Gilles at the Conner Avenue (Detroit) Assembly Plant in 2010. The plant is being re-opened for the new Viper.

 Chrysler Group LLC will reopen its Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit for the production of the next generation SRT Viper. With the plant’s reopening, nearly 150 jobs, both hourly and salaried, will return to the City of Detroit. The Conner facility was idled when production of the Dodge Viper ended in July 2010.
“The next generation Viper will make its return to the product lineup in late 2012 as a 2013 model,” said Ralph Gilles, President and Chief Executive Officer – SRT Brand and Motorsports, Chrysler Group LLC. “We’re extremely excited that our ultimate American sports car will continue to live on and be produced exclusively here in the Motor City.”
Current Chrysler Group hourly employees who previously worked at Conner were first offered the opportunity to return to their home plant. The balance of the positions will be filled by hourly employees volunteering to transfer to the Conner Avenue plant.
In preparation for the reopening, the Conner facility will begin its transformation by implementing World Class Manufacturing (WCM), a system that is focused on reducing waste and making continuous improvements throughout the assembly process to improve quality and productivity.

Viper production began in May 1992 at the New Mack Assembly Plant, then moved to the Conner Avenue site in October 1995. All Vipers that rolled off the line were hand-built in a low-volume, modular process. Over the course of 15 years, Conner Avenue employees built about 12 vehicles a day for a total of 22,070 Vipers.

We already congratulated the SRT boys for delivering the goods at the Mount Everest of race tracks, but now we have the opportunity to step into the 2010 Viper ACR as it torches Nürburgring production car record. After the jump, check out the amazing video of the fastest production car ever to tame to the […] More »

by Patrick Rall The Dodge and Ram Truck brands both had good months in June 2011, continuing the steady growth of the Chrysler Group and helping this five-brand collaboration to be the top dogs in terms of year over year growth for July with an overall improvement of 30%.  Chrysler was led by the Jeep […] More »

by Patrick Rall Recently, the Chrysler Group announced a major management shakeup as Dodge Chief Executive Office Ralph Gilles was removed from his position to clear up time in his schedule to run the newly formed SRT brand.  That’s right – the high performance Street and Racing Technology models from Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep are […] More »

The Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR (American Club Racer) has made history at yet another storied road course. Renowned Dodge road racer Kuno Wittmer piloted a street legal 2010 Dodge Viper ACR to a record lap of 1:59.995 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, on Monday, April 11, breaking the 2-minute mark for the first […] More »

The new Dodge Challenger has allowed Dodge enthusiasts a chance to buy a new “muscle car”, with the definition of rear wheel drive, front engine, V8s.  However, models like the Charger SRT-8 and Dodge Viper SRT-10 have filled the gap in Dodge performance, although in other segments, and both have proven to be very successful. […] More »