Copperhead: The Dodge SRT Hyper-Muscle Car
Dodge isn’t bringing back the Viper just yet, but the company has something else in the works that could be every bit as interesting for performance fans. Stellantis head of American brands Tim Kuniskis has described the upcoming Dodge Copperhead as a “hyper-muscle car,” positioning it against high-performance versions of the Ford Mustang and the next Chevrolet Camaro rather than as a direct Viper replacement.
The Copperhead name itself isn’t subtle. Named after one of the most common and widespread vipers in North America, it draws a clear connection to the Dodge Viper SRT that occupied Dodge showrooms from 1991 through 2017. Unlike the 1997 V6-powered Copperhead concept, however, this new car promises considerably more power and a much stronger focus on handling.
Dodge Wants Back In The Pony Car Fight
Dodge has confirmed the Copperhead’s existence, while Kuniskis has downplayed the possibility of a Viper revival. That doesn’t mean the Viper name is permanently dead, but for now, Dodge appears to be taking a different approach with its next sports car.
The modern Dodge Challenger never quite managed to become a serious rival to the highest-performance Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Mustangs. Its full-size sedan underpinnings held it back in that fight. The latest eighth-generation LB Charger arguably made that situation even more pronounced.
The Copperhead is intended to change that. Dodge wants a sports car that can compete in the pony and muscle car arena with the kind of handling capability that the brand hasn’t offered since the early Barracudas and the Challengers made famous by Vanishing Point.
Forget STLA Large
The Copperhead made an appearance during an investor-day presentation, giving us a look at its long nose, wide track and low-slung proportions. The styling features a mix of Charger and Viper influence, which has led some outlets to suggest that the car could ride on Stellantis’ STLA Large platform. According to Kuniskis, that’s not the case.
STLA Large was designed to accommodate an underfloor battery pack for electric propulsion. The Copperhead, meanwhile, is expected to deliver its soundtrack through combustion power. Using STLA Large would therefore force too many compromises for the car Dodge is trying to build.
Instead, the obvious candidate is a modified version of the Giorgio platform currently used underneath the Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio.
The Maserati Connection Could Be A Good Thing
Using the modified Giorgio architecture would allow Dodge to leverage an existing Stellantis platform rather than taking on the expense of developing something completely new. For the Copperhead to clear its corporate profitability hurdles, leveraging those existing development costs will be important.
The platform is already in production, and adding Copperhead volume could help further amortize its development cost.
More importantly, the Giorgio platform could give the Copperhead the chassis hardware it needs to make good on Dodge’s handling ambitions.
The architecture uses extensive aluminum castings, extrusions and stampings to reduce mass while increasing stiffness. Its front-engine, rear-transaxle layout also provides a mass balance similar to the Mustang GTD and approaches the C8 Corvette in its willingness to rotate.
The suspension is another major step forward. Sophisticated multilink geometry at both ends, combined with adaptive damping, would represent a significant advancement over the technology used by the Viper.
Hurricane Turbo Six Or HEMI V8?
The Copperhead is expected to launch with combustion power, and there’s plenty of room under that long hood for something serious.
The most obvious candidates are the Hurricane inline-six and HEMI V8. Either engine could potentially be boosted and/or hybridized to reach whatever power and sound targets Dodge determines are necessary to compete at the top of the pony and muscle car segment.
Both Kuniskis and Dodge engineers have confirmed to that the Hurricane has considerably more potential than what is currently offered in the Charger. That makes a higher-revving, fire-breathing version of the straight-six a very plausible option for the Copperhead. Of course, there’s another possibility.
Kuniskis has teased journalists about a “new technology” powertrain that he predicted would be unveiled this summer. As of the time of the source material, that powertrain had not yet been revealed. Kuniskis has also downplayed hybridization as a possibility.
So, for now, exactly what will sit between the Copperhead’s front fenders remains one of the biggest questions surrounding Dodge’s upcoming sports car.
Could The Copperhead Go Beyond A Coupe?
The Giorgio platform opens up some interesting possibilities beyond the initial combustion-powered Copperhead.
Because the Maserati platform supports the GranCabrio convertible, Dodge could potentially develop a Copperhead cabriolet. The architecture also supports Maserati’s Folgore electric variants, which means a fully electric Copperhead could theoretically be possible if Dodge chose to adopt that battery packaging strategy.
For now, however, the Copperhead is absolutely expected to launch with combustion power. That’s probably exactly what Dodge enthusiasts want to hear.
The Viper may still be sitting on the sidelines, but the Copperhead could give Dodge something it hasn’t had in a long time: a purpose-built sports car capable of taking on the best Mustang and Camaro performance models without relying on the compromises of a full-size sedan platform. And if Dodge puts a big Hurricane or HEMI under that long hood, things could get very interesting.
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