No Ferrari Viper, Dodge brand chief says

Despite allusions to cooperation on the Viper with Chrysler's new Italian owners, there will be no Viper Ferrari.

Hey, it was a natural question, especially since Dodge opened that door in a press release on Tuesday about a lap record set by a production Viper ACR at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (1:33.915; more on that in a minute).

"When we have partners across the ocean who are known as the best sports-car makers in the world, the future opportunities are huge," Dodge brand chief Ralph Gilles said in a release.

The future opportunities for what--a Ferrari V12 in a Viper body? A Viper V10 in a Frankensteined 612? What? You could go insane imagining the possibilities. So we spoke to Gilles directly and asked whether there would be any cross-engineering or parts-sharing to the extent our overactive imagination imagined there might be. We asked about a Ferrari Dodge Viper.

"No," he said in about as definitive a tone as car execs ever get.

Then what did he mean by the "opportunities are huge?"

"They really know sports cars. We just want some advice," Gilles said.

But wouldn't a Ferrari Viper be cool, regardless?

"Ferrari is Ferrari, Viper is Viper," he said. "Please don't go there."

OK.

We did get these exciting tidbits about the 2010 Dodge Viper: there will be a new graphics package! New stripes! And a new color--Anaconda Green! Also, a new interior for the 2010 Viper will be launched at the Los Angeles auto show.

The 2010 Viper will get a shorter fifth-gear ratio (changing from 0.74 to 0.80) for improved high-speed acceleration and higher straightaway speeds, which hampered an earlier 2008 "lap record" at the N

By Mark Vaughn