Chrysler is said to be working on a third model to add to its new SRT brand, which launches late this year with the 2013 Viper. A new-age SRT Barracuda will be the nascent brand's second model.

Chrysler launched its Street & Racing Technology models in the last decade as performance versions of existing models, from the Dodge Neon SRT4 to the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 and Dodge Ram SRT10. The 2013 SRT Viper drops the Dodge moniker.

Last January, we broke news that a new pony-musclecar would join the SRT Viper in the lineup. The SRT Barracuda won't necessitate revival of the Plymouth brand and will eventually replace the Dodge Challenger. The SRT Barracuda should appear by the 2015 model year, same as for the next-generation Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, while the Challenger may live on into the 2017 model year.

The Barracuda will be based on Chrysler's new LA rear-drive platform, which is downsized from the full-size LY platform (Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger), or the Challenger's previous-generation, LX RWD platform. Fiat also will use the LA platform to underpin several of its cars, most notably the replacement for the front-drive Alfa Romeo 159 and likely a successor to the larger, BMW 5 Series-size FWD Alfa 166 produced from 1998 to 2007.

So what will SRT Number 3 be? Two possibilities are a successor to the Dodge Ram SRT10 and a small, two-seat sports car. There are issues with either idea. Ford has had unexpected success with the F-150 SVT Raptor. A Ram-based SRT designed more for extreme off-roading is a good prospect. However, the Raptor does fall under the Ford F-150 brand, and it's hard to imagine Ram splitting off a separate truck model.

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As for the sports car, Chrysler has teased us with a number of four-cylinder two-seat concepts over the years, most recently with the 2007 Dodge Demon concept. It was designed to be a Mazda Miata competitor, and that's where this idea runs into trouble.

Mazda and Fiat earlier this year announced plans to build a new, RWD Alfa Romeo Duetto Spyder-style sports car on the same line as the next MX-5 Miata in Hiroshima, Japan. The next Miata, due in 2014, and the Alfa, to launch about a year after the Mazda, won't directly compete because Fiat is attempting to make Alfa more of a BMW competitor. The Miata's platform would be convenient for an SRT sports car, but the Chrysler product would compete in price and positioning with the Mazda, to avoid competing with the Alfa.

While Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has indicated he plans further strategic alliances with Mazda, the SRT sports car doesn't seem so strategic. While Mazda used to share its midsize platform the Ford Fusion, there's not enough room in the global small sports car market to share the MX-5 platform with two other models.

How will Chrysler execute a third SRT model? Let the speculation commence.