The Auto Writer

Last summer Chrysler LLC mentioned that its iconic sports car, the Dodge Viper, was up for sale. No, not just one car but the entire model line, the tooling and the factory in Detroit where the Viper is built. Back then, some were speculating that Viper could raise perhaps as much as a few hundred million dollars for Chrysler who was putting the model up for sale even before the big financial meltdown of September 2008.

Well, the people reporting at The Detroit Bureau (an excellent online publication by the way) have shared that Chrysler’s asking price for the Viper is a measly ten million dollars. That’s right: low enough for a bunch of us auto enthusiasts to pool our money together to buy Viper ourselves. Had we known, we might have submitted our own bid.

Fire Sale Price For Automotive Assets

Perhaps most surprising of all is that even at this fire sale price, there hasn’t been a single party to express interest in Viper. Gosh, let’s get ten people together to scrounge up $100,000 each and offer Chrysler an even one million dollars to take Viper off of their hands! No thanks.

As The Detroit Bureau mentioned, none of this bodes well for other automotive assets on the market, namely GM’s Saab, Hummer and Saturn brands. Moreover, with Volvo up for sale, you have to wonder if Ford would get anything near the five or six billion dollars they want for the Swedish make. In my opinion, if Ford is able to do so they should simply hang on to Volvo and ride out the depressed market.

What Is The Value Of Car Assets?

Perhaps most interesting of all is this point — exactly what is the federal government funding when it comes to helping Chrysler and General Motors? When all is said and done tens of billions will be expended to move Chrysler to Fiat and hundreds of billions to lift General Motors out of its own ditch. Perhaps the feds have overestimated each company’s actual value?

No demand for the Viper actually plays into the fed’s hands when it comes to settling Chrysler and GM’s debt as pertaining to its bondholders. Holders of Chrysler and GM debt are not happy to get what amounts to be just pennies on the dollar for their investments, but with the federal government as the only party interested in shoring up the two companies, whatever they end up getting will be more than what these assets are probably really worth which is as close to no value whatsoever.

See Also — Dodge Viper, The Heart And Soul Of Dodge