The list of Chrylser plants closing just got posted:
Sterling Heights (Mich.) Assembly Plant
Detroit (Mich.) Axle
Conner Avenue (Detroit) Assembly
St. Louis (Mo.) North Plant
Kenosha (Wisc.) Engine
Twinsburg (Ohio) Stamping Plant
Plus south St. Louis, Missouri and Newark, Deleware that are already idle
Connor Avenue Assembly plant is where Dodge builds the Viper, so unless a new knight in shining armor shows up to take the supercar operations off Chrysler’s hands, that may be all she wrote for the V10-powered behemoth.
5/28 Update:
According to court documents filed by Chrysler, there is but one lone official offer for the firm’s Dodge Viper automotive business, and it is well under the $10 million asking price that the bankrupt automaker has been seeking. If a suitable buyer isn’t found, it’s likely that the Connor Avenue Assembly plant where the Viper is manufactured will be closed down this December.
The sole $5.5 million bid came from Devon Motor Works, a small boutique coachbuilder based in Grand Rapids, Michigan that has plans to launch a new supercar of its own called the Devon GTX, which we presume is based on the underpinnings of the Dodge Viper. The GTX is scheduled to make a run at the Nürburgring lap record for a car currently in production (currently held by a Dodge Viper ACR) sometime in July, after which it will be officially debuted at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours.
Chrysler first started putting out feelers for its Viper line last August, and the automaker still claims that it “has been approached by a number of parties interested in purchasing the business,” though it’s now clear that it’s rather short on actual realistic offers. At this point, Chrysler is said to be looking into Devon’s offer to verify that the small company has sufficient resources to close the deal.
6/5 Update
Congressional letter alleges Nardelli and Chrysler failed to disclose more lucrative offer for Viper
As you know, the Fiat group includes Ferrari, a Viper competitor in the sports car market. If it is the case that Fiat used its “hard-fought” superior bargaining position to establish as a condition of the merger a requirement that Chrysler allow the Viper brand to disappear in order to reduce competition for Ferrari, this too must be presented to the court.
6/11
Chrysler said late Wednesday that all the Viper assets, including rights to the name, have been turned over to Fiat, which took control of Chrysler on Wednesday as it emerged from bankruptcy
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=150326
6/16
Production resumes
11/04
Chrysler has decided that production of the current Viper will end in July 2010
