Tomorrow begins the dawn of a new era for American sportscars – at least that’s what the folks at Dodge SRT would like us to believe. With just over 23 hours until the new 2013 SRT Viper is unveiled at the New York Auto Show, speculation is rife about the new car’s design and performance.

Completely restyled, completely reinvigorated, the Viper will go head-to-head with the Chevrolet Corvette Z06/ZR1 and Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 as American’s challenger to Europe and Japan’s finest.

The new Viper’s platform and engine are believed to be an evolution from the outgoing model, even though early rumours speculated about it being built on the Alfa Romeo 8C’s architecture.

Power is estimated at a Ferrari-FF rivalling 660hp, from the big V10 engine, with both performance and economy improvements due to increased use of aluminium and other light-weight materials, plus a cylinder deactivation and stop-start function to minimise fuel usage.

For the first time on a Viper, traction control and advanced stability management systems are likely to be fitted as standard and the ‘Dodge’ label is being dropped, replaced by SRT which stands for Street and Racing Technology (the high-performance division of Chrysler group).

Priced at slightly less than $100,000 the Viper is expected to remain a ‘bargain’ supercar, but its success will depend on whether it can match other-worldly performance with the sense of quality and refinement expected by its rivals.

To follow the SRT Viper’s launch, visit http://www.drivesrt.com on Wednesday 4th April at 11:55am EDT.

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