We all shed a tear when the Dodge Viper was killed off, and another when it Detroit-based production facility was officially killed off too. Fanboys and long-time customers scrambled to buy up the Viper in hopes to hang onto the once great car, and don’t forget the five “celebratory” special editions released in 2016 after the Viper’s fate was sealed. All of that drama and no we’re here to tell you that the Viper is coming back, and it’ll probably hit the market for the 2021 model year. Sorry, folks, but if any of you rushed to get your hands on the last run of Vipers, you got taken like a whore in handcuffs at an Ivy League frat party.

Is the Dodge Viper Really Coming Back

If a recent report from Car & Driver is to be believed, then yes, the Viper is coming back. The outlet claims that it will even remain true to its heritage, featuring a long hood, engine behind the front axle, and loads of aluminum and carbon fiber. Dodge will even forgo the critical mistake that scorned the fifth-gen model and introduce it as a convertible or roadster at launch with the coupe to follow sometime afterward. It’s not all about heritage though, as the next-gen Viper won’t tote around a V-10 under the hood.

Goodbye V-10 Viper, Hello V-8

You read that heading right; the Viper will reportedly be void of that massive V-10 that has powered it for more than two decades. Instead, it will be powered by an aluminum V-8 that Car & Driver says will be good for 550 horsepower. Naturally, an SRT model will eventually come to life which means you can bet the 707-horsepower Hellcat engine will come into play at some point. A manual transmission feels like it should be a given, but with the advancements made by dual-clutch transmissions, more and more car guys are opting for shift paddles over three pedals and a leather-booted stick.

On that note, it will feature independent suspension and an updated spaceframe so it should be able to handle its own on the road and track. It will compete against everything from the Chevy Corvette to the Ford GT to Porsche’s GT racers in track form. Car & Driver claims the new Viper could debut at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, which would make sense as it’s also the 30th debut of the very first Viper concept, but we wouldn’t hold our breath quite yet. Even if it does, it won’t make it to the market until at least the 2021 model year.

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Don’t put too much faith into this report from Car & Driver. First off, there is absolutely no source for this information given. Instead, the outlet just says we should “trust” them. If it does come back to the market in next-gen form, it points very strongly at the fact that Dodge took us all for the proverbial ride, making tons of extra cash from the death of a legend. All those special editions, those final models auctioned for charity, all the hype built around its final year of production. It was all just to line the pockets of FCA while fooling us into believing we’d never see a new Viper again.

The worst part is that FCA’s Head of Design, Ralph Gilles, told us way back when that the Viper wasn’t even discontinued for slow sales but instead because it couldn’t comply with the ejection mitigation regulation. In other words, FCA claimed that side curtain airbags couldn’t fit inside the Viper’s package. So, instead of ushering in a next-gen model, or modifying the current generation to make them fit, the automaker fed us a caca sandwich and led us to believe that was the end of the line for the Viper. Yet, here we are talking about the potential of a next-gen model just a couple of years later. And, while there isn’t a source mentioned, the word does come from a pretty reputable outlet, so it does hold some merit even if I’ve told you to take it with a grain of salt.

In the end, if this rumor proves to be true, it really feels like FCA took advantage of the Viper’s following and took its customers and fans for all it could. On that note, Dodge did kill off the Viper factory, so if it is coming back as a new-gen model, the build will probably be outsourced to another company, much like Ford does with the new GT. I guess we’ll just have to sit back and wait to see what happens, but it will be interesting to see how things unfold. All of those special edition models could take a severe hit to the collectible value they were supposed to have, though.

References

Read our full review on the 2015 Dodge Viper.

Read more Dodge news.