First off, the Viper has always been a mid-engined car. Front-mid-engined to be sure, but it always had the bulk of the chassis weight between the wheels.
The $300K Lamborghini Murcielago is easily a poster car for an Italian exotic car. And the SRT-10 (convertible) Viper has comparable acceleration and better braking and handling.
So tell me why it's so important to have a rear-mid engine location, DOHC, 4V engine?
Personally I'm never going to be spending $300K+ for any car.
I don't like much of Chrysler's design changes since the Daimler merger, building more boring cars than before, and just reselling the Mercedes SLK roadster as the Crossfire is hardly promoting the innovative Chrysler spirit that inspired the Viper.
When I read the title of this thread I thought that it was talking about the 625HP, 3250lb SRT-10 "Carbon" Viper shown at SEMA. Building that car for under $100K would definitely get the attention of the world.
If Daimler was really serious about keeping the Viper a flagship car, they would lend a couple turbos and some traction control circuitry from their Mercedes cars to build a twin turbo 750HP Viper that would put the Viper up among the fastest new breed of exotic supercars like the Ferrari Enzo and Porsche Carrera GT.
Give us a sub-$100k/625HP regular Viper, and a $125K 750HP+ factory supercar ACR Viper.
The Europeans are going to have to reevaluate American performance cars, from the Ford GT, to the coming 500HP, 3000lb C6 Z06 Corvette (plus maybe a lighter 625HP ZL1 model), and Dodge needs the Viper to either be as fast or faster to keep it's performance image alive.
-Dean.