Chrysler LLC has announced that production has begun on the new 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10.
Each hand-built Viper is bestowed with the all-new 600hp (450kW) and 760Nm 8.4-litre SRT aluminium V10 engine.
This additional horsepower - 90hp more to be exact - rockets the Viper to 100km/h in less than four seconds, setting a new benchmark for the all-American muscle car.
At the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit you won’t find any robots.Instead 48 workers attending 26 stations on a 214 metre assembly line build the Viper by hand.
“Compared to our other manufacturing facilities, this is a very labour-intensive plant, but to build the Dodge Viper any other way wouldn’t be right. This small craft shop allows us to produce a true American legend.”
Each Viper is tested in place on the assembly line using a rolling road, where it is shifted through each of the six cogs to 90mph (150km/h) to verify vehicle function.
Normally reserved only for race cars, the suspension is adjusted by an alignment machine which sets caster and camber at normal ride height, at jounce and at rebound (upward and downward travel of suspension) - this is a first for a factory US production vehicle.
In addition to the new engine, the 2008 Viper features increased levels of customisation with five new exterior colours, four new interior colour combinations and a new wheel design.
Whilst Dodge have tested the waters in Australia with the Nitro, Caliber and Avenger models, there are no plans to add the left-hand drive only Viper to its line up.
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