[Allpar News System]

Circulating around SRT Viper forums is a copy of a letter dated August 20, 2013 from Pat Dougherty, Chrysler Group's director of fleet sales, to Lee Stubberfield, the national president of the Viper Club of America (VCA). The letter puts the VCA on notice that there is a growing rift between Chrysler and the VCA and that the automaker is seriously considering reexamining its relationship with the group during an internal meeting that Dougherty says will be "...difficult with an unknown outcome." The Chrysler letter is careful to differentiate between the national organization and the regional clubs, saying the regional groups are operating in a manner the company can continue to support. In comments to the club's leadership, Stubberfield maintains the issues are not major and can be resolved. Copies of the letter can be viewed at the Viper Garage and ViperAlley.com (free registration required).

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[moparmodelfan]

That was some very interesting reading. I am glad that lxforums.com is not like this. We just had a fantastic BBQ and meet at the Chrysler museum the Friday before the Dream Cruise.

 

[fargo59]

except for the burnouts as many left. hopefully that didnt tarnish the relationship.

 

[Muther]

There is more to this than meets the eye. It could very easily be taken out of context. I urge people not to jump to conclusions, and post negative comments. We simply do not know the whole story.

 

[MoparJoe]

But jumping to conclusions is the allpar way ??

 

[Stratuscaster]

But jumping to conclusions is the allpar human way ??

Fixed that for you.

 

[codypet]

Fixed that for you.

I was gonna say, allpar is a lot better about that than other sites.

 

[Dave Z]

Bill worked to make the article as non-jumping-to-conclusions as possible.

 

[TrailDuster45]

Wow, people running Viper Club raking in a $200k/year salary...

And about the raffle for a 2013 SRT Viper - the raffle brings in a whopping $270,000 and the winner gets stuck with paying $32,000+ in taxes! They even offer financing for the taxes - an 8-year loan at $495/mo. if your credit score is not on the upper side (4% to 8% interest rate). So the winner could end up paying almost $50k in taxes, for a vehicle that will probably only be worth ~$50k in a few years. Gasp!

 

[KyleCoffey]

I don't blame the VCA for criticizing Chrysler though... there are members who ordered their 2013 the very first day ordering opened up who STILL haven't received their cars and the driving season's almost over. That being said, I'd take over the VCA for only 100k a year:{D

 

[Viperobsessed]

There is more to the story. And it starts with poor leadership at the VCA with no external audits that has banned anyone that questioned any of the decisions being made for a "car club". It used to be a great club and will return to being a great club - now that their cloak of secrecy has been lifted. Lee Stubberfield needs to resign and the $200k relationship mentioned needs to end.

 

[redriderbob]

I don't blame the VCA for criticizing Chrysler though... there are members who ordered their 2013 the very first day ordering opened up who STILL haven't received their cars and the driving season's almost over. That being said, I'd take over the VCA for only 100k a year:{D

and that due to a problem they have been having with the casting with the aluminum blocks of the motors! Production is still running slow, but they are about a month and half behind. So they are catching up.

redriderbob

 

[suzq044]

http://jalopnik.com/why-chrysler-is-at-war-with-the-worlds-largest-viper-c-1201999758

^ Jalopnik got a hold of a few things..

 

[JohnRogers]

http://jalopnik.com/why-chrysler-is-at-war-with-the-worlds-largest-viper-c-1201999758

^ Jalopnik got a hold of a few things...

enthusiasts are complaining about banned members, shady accounting, and preferential treatment

LOL...sounds a little like ChallengerTalk.

 

[oh2o]

and that due to a problem they have been having with the casting with the aluminum blocks of the motors! Production is still running slow, but they are about a month and half behind. So they are catching up.

They are pretty much caught up now as they are building '14s. The main complaint from those who have not received their early orders is that during all this time there have been PLENTY of unsold new Viper's sitting on dealer lots. A block casting issue would not have prevented them from building sold orders vs dealer stock orders. Some owners have found exactly what they ordered sitting on a dealer lot somewhere, made the purchase, and cancelled their original unfulfilled order.

 

[JRS200x]

They are pretty much caught up now as they are building '14s. The main complaint from those who have not received their early orders is that during all this time there have been PLENTY of unsold new Viper's sitting on dealer lots. A block casting issue would not have prevented them from building sold orders vs dealer stock orders. Some owners have found exactly what they ordered sitting on a dealer lot somewhere, made the purchase, and cancelled their original unfulfilled order.

Correct and its a pretty crappy thing for Chrysler to do.

 

[MoparMan]

They are pretty much caught up now as they are building '14s. The main complaint from those who have not received their early orders is that during all this time there have been PLENTY of unsold new Viper's sitting on dealer lots. A block casting issue would not have prevented them from building sold orders vs dealer stock orders. Some owners have found exactly what they ordered sitting on a dealer lot somewhere, made the purchase, and cancelled their original unfulfilled order.

Exactly. It had nothing to do with casting issues, it had to do with Ralph and SRT promising to build VCA members' custom orders ahead of all the dealer orders and then shattering that promise (so much for the benefits of being a VCA member but that's a rant for another time). They ended up having massive delays with no word why, no way to find out why and turning off our ability to track our VINs on line then cars with the same configuration as what folks like me had ordered in November started showing up on dealer lots with giant markups. By the time my car was built, I was sick of delays and lack of info not to mention someone high up telling me they don't care what the VCA forms said about the car, the issues, etc and the fact that the car was by then being discounted down to invoice by some dealers that I canceled my order and have not bought a Viper at all. Frankly, SRT made it as hard as possible to spend $100k+ on a car and I took that as I sign that I shouldn't be buying their car. Most VCA members are afraid to take their Vipers to the dealer and knowing that there would be quality issues with the car (there were with my other Vipers) I decided to just walk away from the car as it was no longer worth it to me.

The way SRT handled the Gen V from intro to production, and even now with the flawed car they sent to MT, has been a complete disaster and has cost them a lot of sales.

 

[suzq044]

Un-explained delays -- the story of Dart R/T / GT .. lol

I wonder how much of it is marketing fail.

 

[Mike V.]

Correct and its a pretty crappy thing for Chrysler to do.

It's also crappy for a dealer to use a salesman's name and call the order "sold" to try to raise the priority of the build.

Not saying that's what happened, just saying it happens... A lot unfortunately.

Mike

 

[JRS200x]

It's also crappy for a dealer to use a salesman's name and call the order "sold" to try to raise the priority of the build.

Not saying that's what happened, just saying it happens... A lot unfortunately.

Mike

It DOES happen, and if Chrysler catches wind (and they do pretty easily) it can spell out some pretty severe penalties for a dealer.