Prodrive on the Viper
Helping DaimlerChrysler sort out the European model
Automotive engineering specialist Prodrive has worked with DaimlerChrysler Corporation to develop a fully type-approved version of the 500hp Dodge Viper SRT-10 for European customers.
Prodrive managed the programme of 45 separate tests required to obtain approval in all European markets and worked with DaimlerChrysler to re-engineer over 50 parts of the Viper in order to meet the most stringent European requirements.
Most significantly, the side exit exhaust system on the US-spec Viper did not pass European drive-by noise regulations, so there had to be significant modifications to the exhaust system, without compromising the performance or driveability of the car.
Prodrive has also worked with DaimlerChrysler to coordinate the supply chain for the European vehicle. Wherever possible, changes have been introduced with the Viper’s existing suppliers, with parts installed on the Viper line at the Conner Avenue assembly plant in Detroit. Changes that require a substantially different build-sequence, as is the case with the new exhaust system, are to be carried out in Europe, at a Prodrive-managed facility specially set up at Zeebrugge, where the cars arrive from the US.
“It didn’t make sense for DaimlerChrysler to redesign the Viper production line for the relatively small number of European cars, so they will build and test the cars before shipping them to our facility for the final changes,” explains Andy Tempest, managing director of Automotive Technology at Prodrive. “We have accumulated a lot of experience in this area thanks to projects with companies such as Subaru and Ford, so we were ideally positioned to help DaimlerChrysler through the process with the Viper.”
The first of the several hundred Viper SRT-10s that Dodge will be selling each year through its European dealer network will arrive at the Prodrive Zeebrugge facility in September, and the car will be available for purchase by the end of the year.
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