New Dodge Viper Documentary Captures Hand-built Craftsmanship and Passion in Every Dodge Viper

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A new 22-minute documentary, "Viper: DNA of a Supercar," launched today by Dodge showcases how the Dodge Viper is created like no other car – with passion driving every ounce of design origin, attention to detail and meticulous handcrafting. The film can be viewed at driveSRT.com/2015/viper/documentary.

"The Dodge Viper is a precision-handcrafted machine expressively built to stimulate all the senses of an enthusiast's soul," said Tim Kuniskis, President and CEO, Dodge and SRT, FCA North America. "It's not widely known what it takes to create this supercar, including the 140 to 160 hours to hand paint each Viper, so we produced the film to show what sets the Viper apart from everything else in its segment."

"Viper: DNA of a Supercar" captures the passion that inspires the automotive designers and craftspeople to pour their expertise, focus and resolve into every component, every process and every step of the Viper build. Facts include:  

• More than 3,700 unique components come together to form a Viper
• More than 90 percent of the Viper's interior is hand-wrapped in the finest leather available
• Designed with structural integrity, 48 percent of the Viper's exterior is carbon fiber – lighter than steel with a superior stiffness
• Viper's entire paint process is done by hand and requires 150-plus man-hours to achieve the concourse quality finish

"This commitment to keeping the fifth-generation Viper a hand-built performance icon ensures the Viper's legacy as a premium world-class supercar and one of the fastest street-legal cars in the world," Kuniskis added.

The film shows every phase of the Viper's design process, from initial sketches through final testing, and how literally every component of the assembly process involves human craftsmanship, distinguishing the Dodge Viper as one of the few custom-built vehicles on the planet.

Dodge will share the film with fans and performance enthusiasts everywhere through its social media channels. 

About Dodge Viper
The fifth generation of the Dodge Viper SRT made its highly anticipated return to the high-performance sports car market in late 2012 as a 2013 model. The flagship performance machine of FCA US LLC arrived with more power and performance, superior craftsmanship, new technologies and creature comforts. Powering the 2015 Viper is an all-aluminum 8.4-liter V-10 engine that delivers 645 horsepower and 600 lb.-ft. of torque – the most torque of any naturally aspirated sports car engine in the world. Standard on the newest Viper are safety features that include electronic multistage stability control, traction control and a new four-channel anti-lock brake system (ABS). Since 1992, Dodge and SRT have built approximately 30,000 Vipers at the Mack Avenue Assembly Plant (1992 - 1994) and Conner Avenue Assembly Plant (1995 - current), both in Detroit.

About Dodge Brand
The Dodge brand is America's mainstream performance brand. With the purification of the brand and consolidation with SRT, Dodge is getting back to its performance roots with every single model it offers. The Dodge and SRT brands offer a complete lineup of performance vehicles that stand out within their own segments. Dodge is the "mainstream performance" brand and SRT is positioned as the "ultimate performance" halo of the Dodge brand, together creating a complete and balanced performance brand with one vision and one voice.

From muscle cars to compact cars, minivans, crossovers and full-size SUVs, the Dodge brand's full lineup of 2015 models deliver best-in-class horsepower, class-exclusive technology, unmatched capability and a slew of cool features, such as LED headlamps, Dodge signature racetrack tail lamps, dual exhaust, 8.4-inch touchscreen infotainment centers and 7-inch thin-film transistor (TFT) customizable gauge clusters, to name a few. For the 2015 model year, customers will be able to drive the new 2015 Dodge Charger and Challenger, as well as the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and Charger SRT Hellcat. The Dodge brand lineup also includes the 2015 Dodge Dart, Durango, Grand Caravan and Journey, including the new Crossroad model, and its flagship, the Dodge Viper.

SOURCE FCA US LLC

Related Links

http://www.drivesrt.com/2015/viper/documentary