Chrysler’s recent bankruptcy filing has exposed some of its current products, including the iconic Dodge Viper sports car. That vehicle, first released in 1992, is a halo car that was created to promote the image of the company’s Dodge division.
A handcrafted vehicle, the Dodge Viper has always sold in low numbers, it only sold its 25,000th copy in 2008. Last year, Chrysler LLC announced that it would try to sell the Viper in an attempt to raise much-needed funds for the company. . But that announcement didn’t bring in a serious buyer and now, with bankruptcy in place, the factory that produces the Viper has been closed.
Several factories closed, not part of the Fiat deal
Eight Chrysler factories are bankrupt, which means that Fiat SpA, the buyer of Chrysler, can choose which assets it wants. The Viper assembly plant in Detroit was not listed, which means that support for the sports car has ended for now at least.
Although the Dodge Viper is likely not part of the newly restructured Chrysler entity, there is a possibility that a new buyer could claim the car. In the 1960s, when Studebaker closed, a pair of former Studebaker dealers bought the rights to the Avanti, the company’s forward-thinking model introduced a few years earlier. For the next two decades, the timeless Avanti was built and sold to devotees.
Following the signs of the Avanti
Like the Avanti, the Viper could be produced by just about anyone, as the car buyer would get the rights to the name, body molds, parts, tools, and everything else related to the car. The new buyer would also take responsibility for providing replacement parts for the existing Vipers and would likely enter into a warranty agreement with Chrysler to cover cars made when the Viper was under the Dodge umbrella. That deal could be backed by the federal government, which already has a similar plan for Chrysler.
So if the Viper continues to live, its new owner may have nothing to do with car building, although my personal speculation is that an existing manufacturer will acquire all rights to the Viper and produce the car itself. After all, a halo car is just that: one that reinforces a brand’s image, something that the V-10, 600 horsepower, 560 pound-feet of torque, Viper has successfully done for Dodge.
