With its dramatic styling and 600 horsepower, the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 is the ultimate American sports car. Now with 600 horsepower – 90 more than the last generation, and 0-to-60 performance in less than four seconds, the Dodge Viper SRT10 sets a new benchmark. The Viper has had a hugely successful career on the race tracks on both sides of the Atlantic ever since it went into production more than a decade and a half ago. Most recently it has tasted success in the Brazilian GT3 Championship (above) where it clinched the title in 2007. At the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, workers hand-build Viper SRT10 utilising 26 work stations on a 705-foot-long assembly line, 48 hand-picked UAW workers assemble each vehicle. Each vehicle remains stationary for up to 49 minutes per work area as the craft people make any necessary adjustments. The retro-styled Chrysler/Plymouth Prowler was assembled at the Connor Avenue factory from 1997-2002. Immediately distinctive due to its open type front wheels the Prowler featured a 3.5-litre V6 engine and an aluminium body that partially used bonding techniques. 11,702 Prowlers were produced. On October 24, 2007, Chrysler announced the manufacturing launch of the latest generation version of the Dodge Viper, dubbed the SRT10, which was produced as usual at the company's Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit.

The assets and name rights of Chrysler's legendary niche sports car, the Viper, have been transferred to the new Fiat-led Chrysler Group after no serious bidders were reported to have emerged during the Chapter 11 restructuring process. Fiat has shown little interest in acquiring the Viper brand which is hand-built at the Connor Avenue factory in Detroit, Michigan so it remains to be seen whether this will become a long-term asset of the new Chrysler Group or will be sold of in the short-term. In the initial deposition to the New York Bankruptcy Court the Connor Avenue Assembly Plant was listed amongst the 'bad' assets that Fiat didn't want to be carried forward into the new Chrysler Group.

In the court papers the outgoing Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli stated that there had been no serious offers for Chrysler that stood up to financial scrutiny. However according to Autoweek several bids emerged that ran up as high as US$35 million. The bidder with the strongest interest, who has tabled several proposals over recent months, is Michigan businessman Scott Devon who plans to launch a niche super sports car this summer through his budding Devon Motor Works concern. He is the CEO of Cole's Foods, a Michigan based business with a US$100 million turnover, and his low-volume Devon GTX is essentially a Viper chassis and mechanicals, but with the engine tuned up to 700 bhp and fitted with a distinct new body made out of Kevlar.

Devon hopes to launch the first working prototype of this car at Pebble Beach in August and kick off limited production later on this year. As well as several offers from Devon, including a US$20 million in cash bid in March which was, according to Autoweek, personally rejected by Nardelli as being too low, and then a higher bid of US$30 million, which included additional government funding, another Michigan businessman David Elshoff is also reported to have put a bid of US$35 million in for the Viper concern. Devon Motor Works' latest bid says Autoweek is US$5.5 million which includes leasing the factory for a year. "I think it’s worth a lot less now than it was two months ago," Devon told the magazine.

Chrysler bought the Connor Avenue factory, located in Detroit, in 1995, specifically to build the now Dodge branded Viper sports car which was then being built at the New Mack Assembly Plant, as well as the Chrysler-and-Plymouth branded Prowler. The factory had first opened in 1966 to manufacture Champion spark plugs. After being built at New Mack from 1992-96 the Viper went into production at Connor Avenue in 1996, while the unusual retro-looking Prowler came on stream just over a year later. While the Viper remains in production today, in its latest powerful fourth generation guise, the Prowler was phased out in 2002. Assembly of the Viper's engine was moved to Connor Avenue in 2001 where it is built in a line alongside the car.

The current Viper model has an 8.4-litre V10 engine with 600 bhp power and 560 lb/ft of torque which is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox and it comes in three versions the STR10 Convertible (US$91,200), the SRT10 Coupe (US$91,970) and the SRT10 Coupe Package B (US$105,520). Stateside industry watchers have been surprised by Fiat's lack of interest in the Viper concern as Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne obsesses over high volume targets above all else, particularly as the niche brand needs to build just 13 cars a day to break even and showed a profit last year despite parent company Chrysler's financial woes. The Viper's stature and image with the American car buying public provides a valuable 'halo' for Dodge's lacklustre production model range, and its rival GM's Corvette concern is its biggest crown jewel, although these cars are produced on a more mass production scale while the Viper is hand-built. The Viper has also been successfully built in quantities as a customer racing car which has contributed to the division's bottom-line, and the competition version continues to see high parts sales.

At the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, workers hand-build Viper SRT10 utilising 26 work stations on a 705-foot-long assembly line, 48 hand-picked UAW workers assemble each vehicle. Each vehicle remains stationary for up to 49 minutes per work area as the craft people make any necessary adjustments. This process eliminates traditional repair stations with all procedures verified by team members.

Each Dodge Viper model is primarily made of seven component modules (instrument panel, fuel tank, suspension corner modules, wheels and tyres, cooling module, lift gate assembly and fully dressed engine). With the exception of the engine, all modules are shipped to the Conner Avenue facility from other locations. Stamping, casting and welding all take place off-site with body panels arriving already painted. In a process normally performed only on race cars, an alignment machine sets caster and camber at normal ride height, at jounce and at rebound (upward and downward travel of suspension). Typical factory alignments set caster and camber in the normal ride height position only. The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 is the only U.S. production vehicle set up for such alignment at the factory.

“Our assembly process is just as exceptional as the car,” says Melissa Holobach, Plant Manager – Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, Sterling Heights Vehicle Test Center (SHVTC) and Pilot Operations. “The process of building these vehicles by hand has allowed us the freedom to produce race-inspired performance without the constraints of mass production,” Holobach said. “Our workforce is committed to producing the best vehicles possible and it shows in their commitment to detail.”

The all-new 600-horsepower 8.4-liter SRT V-10 engine is built next to the vehicle on a 24-station circular line by nine craftsmen. These nine workers assemble and certify each engine before they are installed in the chassis. Each Dodge Viper is tested in place on the assembly line utilising special rollers. At this stage the vehicle is a rolling chassis without its body panels. During this “roll test” it is driven through all six speeds of the transmission, up to 90 mph to verify vehicle function.

Since its introduction as a concept car at the 1989 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the Dodge Viper has captured the hearts and imagination of enthusiasts around the world. With its dramatic styling and 600 horsepower, the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 is the ultimate American sports car. Now with 600 horsepower – 90 more than the last generation, and 0-to-60 performance in less than four seconds, the Dodge Viper SRT10 sets a new benchmark.