The sleek 563-horsepower Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is certainly a gorgeous, exotic coupe with classic, functional gullwing doors and all-world sound, inside and out. Yet unnamed sources who say that the SLS AMG actually began life as the next-generation Dodge Viper. The story apparently goes like this. Dodge engineers were already hard at work on the next-gen Viper, with an aluminum chassis already completed and a new suspension on the way. Mercedes caught wind of the project and decided that the chassis would be the perfect starting point for the upcoming SLS. The two teams reportedly worked side-by-side on the project until Chrysler's cash crunch caused the Dodge team to focus its resources elsewhere. The end result was a brand-new SLS for Mercedes and a hole in Dodge's Viper lineup.
While it's hard to blame Mercedes for utilizing existing engineering work (it did, after all own Chrysler at the time) to bring the SLS to market faster and cheaper, we're thinking it would have been nice to have a new aluminum chassis Viper on the streets.
Here's hoping that the 2012 Viper
Here's hoping that the 2012 Viper
(see previous post in this blog) makes us forget about our loss.