I disagree with your basic premise that a compromised vehicle is good. The Ram SRT-10 is too compromised by its size and weight to make sense as a performance "car". It's also compromised as a practical vehicle compared to the regular versions. IMO it's a waste of sheetmetal. It seems that DC couldn't even find enough truck-loving NASCAR rednecks to keep it in production anyway.
Any vehicle you buy will be a compromise. The Viper can only carry two people - that's its compromise for being a high performance car. You're expecting the RAM to perform on the same level as a Viper? Give me a break. The Viper performs far better than most cars out there. Likewise, the RAM performs far better than most trucks out there, and better than many cars. But no, not as good as a Viper. That's because it's a truck.
The RAM SRT-10 can tow a pretty significant weight, and it can haul five people. It has the same size bed as a regular quad cab RAM. I fail to see the compromise there.
In terms of what "makes sense", the RAM is actually a lot more logical than the Viper. It can not only go fast, but it can do some other pretty handy stuff to. Again, not as fast as the Viper... but point me in the direction of the perfect car, please?
All of that said, no, they couldn't keep it in production. In spite of my argument, the market for a performance pickup is small. Ford's SVT Lightning is dead, too, because people who buy Vipers can afford to own a regular RAM as well. That hardly qualifies the RAM as a waste of resources, though...
