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Inasmuch as the Chevy Corvette is known for its V8 heritage, the Dodge Viper is known for its power coming from a raucous V-10 engine under the hood. With the paint barely dry on the most recent Viper’s obituary, there’s already a rumor that the Dodge Viper will make another comeback, but this time, with only eight cylinders.
Car and Driver reports rather confidently that the Viper is coming back for the 2021 model year. Technically a mid-engine car, as all Vipers before it, the new one will reportedly be powered by an aluminum-block V8 placed behind the front axle. This new motor will apparently replace the current long-in-the-tooth iron-block Hemi.
Car and Driver is predicting the base Viper to pack 550 horsepower and have a few higher-performance variants going from there kind of like the Corvette does with the Z06 and ZR1. Although V-10 purists will be disappointed by the new Viper only having eight cylinders, it sounds like it will still offer a manual transmission.
Making the Viper a bit closer in competition to the Corvette could be just what it needs to actually stick around this time. It would be especially competitive if the pricing was similar to its Chevy rival. The last run of Vipers was very expensive and had very limited production numbers, which was both a strength and a weakness for the V-10 supercar. If Fiat Chrysler Automobiles makes it a little more accessible this time, it could give Dodge’s bottom line the boost that it needs.
We’ve reached out to FCA for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
