[Hardsuit]

I went to the SEMA show this past Sunday at the LA Convention Center, and had a chance to chat with UniqueTwin for a bit about Stage 2(S2) for the PT. Please note that *nothing* I say can be considered official, nor was I taking notes, so I could be mistaken, be mis-remembering the conversation, or just plain wrong about what I will be stating below.


1) CARB approvals: They are actively working on getting CARB approvals for S2. This seems to be the main reason that it will be released so much later than S2 for the SRT. Actually, it seems like a lot of the reasons on why the S2 is running late for the PT, along with pricing questions, etc. seem to be directly related to getting the CARB approvals.

2) Cost: Because there may be some re-engineering needed to make the S2 CARB compliant (and thus added costs) the pricing for the PT S2 is not set, and may be higher than the SRT S2. IN NO WAY was there the implication that the PT S2 was going to cost significantly more than the SRT S2, but there is enough of a variable in the possible extra engineering costs that no numbers could be actually mentioned.

3) Release date: Once again, because of the CARB approval process and the potential extra time needed for fixes, no date was given. I tried to get even a general time frame, asking if 3rd or 4th quarter was likely, but could not get any kind of committment to a timeframe.


S2 *will* be coming out for the PT. It's just a matter of how long it's going to take. UniqueTwin also said that there was a lot of pressure to move engineers off of the PT over to work on the line of parts for the Dodge Viper, so that's one more possible complication that she is having to deal with.

I must also say that talking with UniqueTwin was a pleasure. She was very happy to talk with me, and was willing to answer any questions to the best of her ability. She also took down my contact info, along with a couple specific questions, and said she would contact me later on after she had a chance to recover from the convention.

Paul "Hardsuit" Wilson