Viper Lives On: Chrysler Apparently Not Selling

Well this one is a surprise! Chrysler's latest announcement is good news for performance enthusiasts and fans of the Viper sportscar. When Chrysler began to run into serious financial problems and began seeking governmental help (which it received), the company opted to sell all it's valuable assets in a bid to stay afloat. The "Viper brand" was one of those assets.

With a brand name as iconic as Viper, I thought it was pretty likely that the brand would find a buyer, even in this current economic climate. That didn't happen though, and it was dragged into Chrysler's bankruptcy proceedings.

There it failed to find a buyer as well and (according to Chrysler anyway) it only received one bid, a $5.5 million lowball offer from Devon Motor Works. Then Chrysler rejected the bid, which left the brand in doubt. Many speculated Chrysler would cancel it altogether, with it's parent Fiat afraid of competition with Ferrari (I never understood the logic of that one though).

Surprisingly, the very first Chrysler plant to go online post-bankruptcy was the Conner Avenue facility where the Viper is built. Now less than a month later, Chrysler has announced it will live on. Here is the quote from Dodge's CEO.

“The Dodge Viper has successfully captured the hearts and imagination of performance enthusiasts around the globe,” said Mike Accavitti, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dodge Brand. “We’re extremely proud that the ultimate American-built sports car with its world-class performance will live on as the iconic image leader for the Dodge brand.”

By the way, interesting to be seeing brand head's referred to as "Chief Executive Officer". That is a change brought to Chrysler by it's new Fiat leadership. Each brand is being run more like a separate company than they were before. I think it's a smart move!