http://www.leftlanenews.com/viper-pl...to-reopen.html

 

Yeah great...cuz I need Vipers

My stock is 1/2 of what it needs to be, we're actually selling cars at a good clip at the moment, and I have ZERO idea when I can order cars again. Chrysler needs to tell us dealers SOMETHING...

 

I thought this was an odd place to start up again when I heard this morning too. Ok, so they've only built 61 Vipers this year. Is there a ton of demand for more?

 

Actually, there is.

Viper sales dried up when there was a question about service from a company that most wrote off late last year.

Now that that question is answered, and the fact that buyers of $90K Vipers don't tend to be people who are layed off, orders for Vipers are picking up again.

I'd expect Brampton to be next, as there is a SERIOUS backlog of Challenger orders. Many people have cancelled their order because Chrysler hasn't exactly filled them in a timely fashion. Shutting down the plant the past month and a half simply fed fuel to the fire by infuriating alot of buyers into pulling their order. I also believe that Chrysler will suspend that mandated ratio between LX cars and the Challenger that's kept Challenger production seemingly artificially low.

Jeep GC is redesigned, so I wouldn't expect that plant to fire up till after the new model changeover.

 

First plan to reopen....also will be the first plant to officially close.

 

Heh...I wish, Guy. I could use a new Grand Cherokee right now...but the new '11 isn't scheduled until about 9 months from now, if I'm lucky The '10 will still be the current style.

 

Anyone else find it ironic that in our greenie-green world of today, that Chryslers first two plants to re-open after all of this will be ones that produce big horsepower sports/muscle cars?

 

I thought Viper was cancelled. Has that not yet gone into effect?

 

I know, right? Its because of all those evil greenies in BIG GOVERNMENT dictating what they need to produce....



























Oh, wait a minute.....

 

By "picking up again", for a car like Viper, does that mean 1 order to fill for every 5 Chrysler dealerships? Every 10? As Jason said, people aren't coming in droves looking for Vipers.

My thinking still stands - you would think you'd want to get the volume plants back online first. I guess in the grand scheme of things maybe it doesn't matter too much, all plants should be back up and running very soon(?)

 

I would think you'd want to get your most profitable vehicles online first, to help fund the rest of them.

 

Profitable as in profit per car or what makes the most money?

I would think that Viper, on a per-car basis, is profitable. But its volume is so minimal it hardly registers a blip on the bottom line. That's why I was thinking they'd want to start up what continues to be Chrysler's hottest line - LX - first.

 

I was thinking per car. Especially given that there is some pent-up demand for Viper right now -- that's more or less instant cash.

I agree that they would do well to get LX started up sooner than later (and I wouldn't argue if they said they have any short-term plans to restart production at the Sebring/Avenger plant).

 

No one comes in "droves" looking for 2 seat performance cars. Mustangs and Camaro, yes. Vipers and ZR1s, Z06s, or even regular Corvettes, no.

Also, Viper isn't a car that people drop into showrooms looking for. Unlike the occasional stray person whose sole car may be a regular Corvette, virturally every single Viper owner has their car as a toy.

Vipers have been essentially made to order for some time. Either by a high volume metropolitan Dodge dealer who gets one to add more showroom traffic and has a shot at selling it well above sticker, or by a person who walks into the Dodge showroom and goes directly to the Sales Manager to place his order.

Viper buyers know what they want before they even leave the house, and most all of them in recent years have ordered their own.

Viper's demographic is 96% male, average age of 45 years old, with a typical income of $173,000 per year.

44% are college graduates.

62% are married.

They work almost exclusively as an executive or are entrepreneurial.

They are primarily into racing and or other sponsored track or motorsport events as a hobby.

That's directly off of Chrysler's Dodge Viper demographics.

So I mean every word I said about Viper having pent up orders....

..... and about those people who buy Vipers aren't likely to be people who are going to get laid off.

No... I wasn't joking or talking off the hip.



I see the LX line at Brampton as next to restart.

And again.... Chrysler has serious pent up demand for Challenger.... to the point where people are getting fed up and cancelling orders.

That should be enough to get Chrysler to abandon their production mix, and focus on where the demand is.

 

Interesting; I would have guessed that a lot more of them would be college graduates.