It's not anything compared to the other cars though. Even if the viper has equal engineering and development costs to a normal passenger vehicle, those vehicles have their cost spread over 100 times more units. Combine that with the fact that the Viper requires a lot more human labor per unit to assemble and the materials are MUCH more costly (normal producion cars don't have the extensive use of carbon fiber, magnesium and aluminum that the Viper does), your looking at a pretty small, if any, profit margin.
Also remember, the purchase price doesn't go directly to Dodge, the dealership gets their cut right off the top. So as far as return on investment, they are much better off cranking out 300C's or Chargers or whatever else it is they make.
It will be impossible to convince Dodge to continue to make this model on the basis of financial return. Rather, the argument must be that the low ROI of this model line is offset by its prominence in the marketplace and the need for a brand to have a halo car of substance. And I'm not sure that argument holds water.
