In the 1990s, a band called Weezer grew immensely in popularity and captured the world's attention with its simple yet obscure sound. Songs like "Island In The Sun", "Buddy Holly", and "Beverly Hills" became anthems for '90s kids everywhere, and they followed up their successful 1st album with another good one in 2001.
However, they quickly found themselves fading out of their prime and ever since, the 4 guys have become less popular to the point where we didn't even realize they stopped making music. Actually, they have a new single called "Hero" but the point is: I didn't know that and neither did you.
Fundamentally, we can't call them a one-hit-wonder, but we also can't call them legends of the past... much like the Dodge Viper - Dodges slightly more successful Weezer.
The purely American supercar was filled with potential when it debuted in the '90s, but over time, it slowly became a marvel of the past. This is why the Viper is no more.
"Money-Money-Money-Money... Money!"
The Viper ended its 4th generation in 2010 with great sales numbers for a time when the auto industry was, let's say... in a "rebuilding season". They only stopped production so that they could drum up a new Viper that would blow the tie-rods off the competition.
And it did! But it didn't sell.
The refreshed 2013 SRT Viper was a fantastic car dressed in what could only be described as an elegant flowy ballroom dress. Its infamous V10 power-plant was more potent than previously tuned, now, it had 645 horsepower and 600 lb-feet of torque that put it right at the top of the hill. But the C7 Corvette Z06 was being whispered about nonstop that very same year, and when it finally reached production in 2014, Viper sales took a turn for the worst.
The company expected better sales over the 5-year production run of the 5th gen Viper (2013-2017), but even after the world-beating Viper ACR came along and substantially lower prices showed up, dealers couldn't get them off the showroom floor fast enough. Thus, after a tough economic debate, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles decided to axe the Viper.
Competition
2014 was a huge year for the Big 3 in Detroit. The Mustang was getting a new face, the Corvette just got real sexy, and the Viper was back in full swing. The only problem is that you just uttered the words "Corvette" and "Mustang", two of the most successful sports cars in the history of the automobile. So if bad sales weren't detailed enough, here you go.
The Corvette Z06 that came out subsequently was not only more striking with its intensely aggressive body lines but it was also significantly cheaper than the Viper at all trim levels. The Viper was only marginally quicker around a track than the mighty Z06 until the SRT team at Dodge came out with the ACR, a production lap record machine. But by then (2017) the damage had already been done to the essence of the Viper nameplate.
A Common Theme
I often like to compare the Viper to the Nissan GT-R. You may be thinking I am inherently stupid for thinking two cars so different could be considered alike, and while physically, they are most certainly on opposite sides, they are a spiritual mirror image of one another.
They both came to prominence in the early to mid-'90s, they were considered disciples of the car gods with their radical new tech, and despite a refresh in the late 2000s they both lost their verve until 2017 when the Viper ultimately died and the GT-R was made even worse.
Two cars from two wildly different countries with two separate philosophies end up having a lot in common. This happens to be the case with a lot of cars actually. The Mazda RX-7 was killed off due to reliability problems, the Chevy SS was cut due to poor sales, and the Acura Integra was discontinued because of market demand. Those are just a fraction of the cars deserving of production time but were either killed off or made worse due to some kind of customer demand.
Rumors of a 2021 Viper have come and gone, but like most things, it will come down to the money. However, we surely wouldn't complain if Dodge threw a surprise press launch with a Viper on stage... would you?