alright then...can any of you provide me an instance, throughout the entire history of the automobile, where a company has offered a vehicle in a class even remotely similar to their flagship performance model, while still keeping a large gap in price?

hell, GM found that people were leaning too much toward the f-bodies and away from the corvettes, since the camaro and firebird offered similar performance (sharing the exact same engine and transmission as the corvettes). while the camaro and firebird had a lower advertised horsepower rating, it is very common knowledge that the SS and WS6 models dyno about the same thing as the corvette from the similar years. granted, the vette has the "Vette allure" and will handle better, which is what you are illuding to with the comment about the viper being a sports car, and in a different class, but the bottom line is that the viper sells poorly enough, and until the viper gets the possible 8.4L engine and a bigger hp rating to keep abreast with the Z06, DCX isnt going to risk underselling the viper with the challenger. its pretty obvious that this isnt the 1960s, and dodge isnt looking to offer loyal dodge fans any bargains.