It then emerged that the only official bidder was Devon Motor Works, with it’s lowball $5.5 million bid for the brand. Apparently, that has been rejected. There has been a number of theories though as to why the Viper brand didn’t get sold.

Some say that Chrysler has indeed gotten offers for the Viper as high as $30 million, but Fiat was afraid of the Viper competing with Maserati and Ferrari and therefore was discouraging any offers. I’m not sure what exactly went on with that, I could see either story being true for different reasons.

There has been some speculation that without a buyer, Viper could remain in bankruptcy along with the rest (bad) parts of Chrysler. To me that would be moronic. It clearly has value and is a profitable business.

Why kill a profitable business? Anyway, that isn’t the case. Viper is now a part of the “Good Chrysler” under Fiat ownership. We have no idea what will happen now. Does Fiat keep the brand going, try to sell it or just cut it altogether? No one knows for sure.

The deal with Chrysler is far from done and the two are still engaged in talks over the alliance. While Fiat of course could survive by itself, the Chrysler deal gives them access to the critical U.S market. That is what Fiat really wants for the future. The Chrysler deal has and will continue to take the upmost importance over any deal with Opel.

That’s not to say Fiat couldn’t be looking into both, although that would mark a dramatic expansion and taking on of new responsibility all at once. Rumors were swirling of the possibility, annd then then more confirmation came by way of an Opel labor boss. He said Fiat is interested in taking a majority stake and will sign a ”letter of intent” with Opel next week. Following that, Sergio Marchionne said they were taking a “hard look” at Opel. Definitely sounds like something is going on.

Could that be the company GM would “give away” it’s ownership stake in exchange for a cash infusion? Maybe so. GM always seems to come out on the short end of the deal in it’s agreements with Fiat though. Just a few years ago, the failing Fiat was trying to force GM to purchase it. To avoid that possibility, GM have $2 billion to the company which CEO Sergio Marchionne used to develop new vehicles and turn the company around.

Fiat is interested Opel because of the platforms that underpin the Insignia and Astra. They both employ next generations of GM’s platforms that currently underpin Fiat products like the Croma Linea. If the deal pans out, expect GM/Fiat/Opel product development collaborations to continue.

Fiat is now on a global expansion rampage and is doing well with it’s own business. While other volume automakers have posted large losses, Fiat only reported a small loss of 48 million euros (around $63 million USD at current exchange rates). The lost is the first for Fiat since 2005. I say congratulations to the company for executing such a quick turnaround! I wish our companies here in the U.S could say the same.