Chrysler says it got no offers for Viper plant

[Yellow32]

Chrysler says it got no offers for Viper plant | APP.com | Asbury Park Press

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090527/BUSINESS/90527106&template=printart
May 27, 2009



[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Chrysler says it got no offers for Viper plant[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE [/FONT]Chrysler LLC, seeking to sell most of its assets for $2 billion out of bankruptcy to a new company, said it didn’t get an offer for the plant that makes the Dodge Viper sports car at the automaker’s $10 million price.

The lack of bidders for the Detroit factory shows the limited value of automotive assets in a liquidation, Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli said in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing in New York. The Viper plant isn’t among the assets to be sold to the new company, which would be led by Fiat SpA.

“There is the objector’s mistaken notion that it would be a simple matter for us to sell off select product lines, such as Jeep, that might allow a recovery above $2 billion,” Nardelli said. “The market for such assets is extremely depressed at this time.”

Judge Arthur Gonzalez is hearing objections to the sale of the assets today in New York, including those presented by secured lenders that say the plan wouldn’t give them a high enough recovery for their portion of $6.9 billion in loans owed by Chrysler. Gonzalez is being asked to approve the offer from a group including Fiat, a United Auto Workers union retiree health-care trust and the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Chrysler has been trying to sell the Viper sports-car business since August. According to a separate bankruptcy filing, the business generated earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization of $16 million in 2008.

The case is In re Chrysler LLC, 09-50002, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)

 

[Bobpantax]

If I was buying the Viper Enterprise, I would not want the plant. I would want the intellectual property, some but maybe not all of the parts, some but maybe not all of the equipment, and some, but not all of the employees. I would move the whole operation to a Southern location near a Speedway. Locating an exotic car company which will be making what is really a three season car in Detroit does not make any sense.

 

[Paul Hawker]

Amazing that a company with a $16million EBITA will not bring $10 mill. Get your money back and show positive cash flow the first year. In addition there are a bunch of vipers you would get as work in progress as well as substantial spare parts.

Believe Chrysler ownes all the body molds, and probably most of the jigs.

Could probably work out a pretty sweet deal with your current suppliers to keep them operational.

Wonder what happens to all the payables during the BK.

Sell 1000 Vipers at $70,000 each = $70 million dollar annual business for $10 mil.

 

[Canyon707]

Nobody Wants to buy the Viper Plant

Just got news that the Viper plant and all 27 acres has no takers for 10 million. Looks like the end has come.

 

[OzeViper]

Re: Nobody Wants to buy the Viper Plant

only 10 million? ****! I'm nobody and know nobody but even the nobodies i know could get 10 million together!

 

[GTSnake]

Re: Nobody Wants to buy the Viper Plant

Not when it's only worth 5 or $6M.

It looks like the sum of the parts are worth more than the whole. This is where Gordon Gekko comes in and buys the place then parts it out.

 

[past ohio]

I don't see the numbers making any sense....IF you tried to make the Viper plant to work, you would soon have legacity costs as well, plus without the parent company negotiating with vendors for simple things like, wipers, door handles, radios, shocks, tires, etc.....the actual cost to build the viper would soon be well over $100,000, as I see it you wouldn't want to be in Detroit and become NON union, ....and as the viper creeps over the 6 figure, the market you are building the car for, changes dramatically, people start looking for a used other type car or the Corvette looks better at 70,000 ??? I am NOT advocating to anyone to buy a vette....but sales will start sliding PLUS without the parent company (Chrysler's) CAFE standards, you would be at the mercy of Hussein Obama to make you pay to Al Gore about $10,000 for gas and emissions guzzler tax....and then the government will be wined and dined by the insurance companies to start getting rid of the 600 horsepowered vehicles because the repair costs are high ! (some of us on this board remember 1974 when this happened) How about when the government wants you to take one or two off the line and crash it into a wall to see if it passes EPA?safety tests ?? Hard to build this cost into production !! Just my $.02

 

[01sapphirebob]

Re: Nobody Wants to buy the Viper Plant

Lets not get all upset just yet. This just talks about the sale of the CONNER AVE. ASSEMBLY PLANT not the viper line itself. I know some would say it stands to reason that whoever buys the line would want the plant too. However maybe the buyer (i'm assuming that the viper line has been sold and we will hear after the 8th of june who the buyer is) has their own production facility that they wanna use.

 

[bluesrt]

the viper plant would and could make money,cut out all the big suited playboys and silverspoon boys,run it with some strict business brains,no more hanky panky big shots-and u got a great american facility-

 

[Warfang]

Whatever. If we go... We go out on top. 7:22.1 baby!

 

[viperbilliam]

I thought we had it on good authority (like the VCA board) that there were several offers a little while ago. I guess they weren't serious offers. So much BS going on it's hard to see the ugly truth. I would much prefer Chrysler hang onto the Viper as a Dodge if they can hang together themselves.

 

[Y2K5SRT]

Just to clarify, CAAP isn't the Viper platform. That is where they currently build the car, but it would seem logical that the car could be built in a different facility pretty easily. Tooling, personnel, etc. are all "portable" in some way shape or form. Don't read too much into what appears to be a lack of interest in one particular building.

 

[GTSnake]

Re: Nobody Wants to buy the Viper Plant

Lets not get all upset just yet. This just talks about the sale of the CONNER AVE. ASSEMBLY PLANT not the viper line itself. I know some would say it stands to reason that whoever buys the line would want the plant too. However maybe the buyer (i'm assuming that the viper line has been sold and we will hear after the 8th of june who the buyer is) has their own production facility that they wanna use.

Why would they want the building? I sure wouldn't want an old decrepit building if I bought the brand and the tooling. But then again I don't have $10M to blow...

 

[OzeViper]

should move to Texas /nod

 

[plumcrazy]

told you guys this would happen. viper is .......over johnny

 

[MoparMan]

If I was buying the Viper Enterprise, I would not want the plant. I would want the intellectual property, some but maybe not all of the parts, some but maybe not all of the equipment, and some, but not all of the employees. I would move the whole operation to a Southern location near a Speedway. Locating an exotic car company which will be making what is really a three season car in Detroit does not make any sense.

Agree regarding the plant in Detroit and location of a new facility and intellectual property. You would probably need all the parts, tooling and equipment at least to get started. Don't forget, many changes to the car will mean you have to go through crash testing, smog testing, engineering analysis (performance, durability), etc again so the benefit vs. cost of any such changes would have to be carefully evaluated before proceeding. Also, you would want the core engineers who are already up on the learning curve as it relates to design of the vehicle. You might also want a couple of key personnel from the assembly side at least on a consultant basis to help with setting up and possibly improving the manufacture process.

 

[tennis tom]

I wouldn't take it if you gave it to me. Sorry, no reflection on the product, only on the economic climate of the new regime in DC and it's tax collecting emmisaries spread throughout the empire. I've had two Vipers and love my SSG 2008 Vert, drove it yesterday. It's a great vehicle, the Cobra of it's day and I'm glad I got mine--but would I want anything to do with putting any money into the US car business at this time that the gov so much wants to put out of business.

Thiink of the joy it must be for an auto designer or engineer to ponder the new safety and fuel standards coming down the pike. It's a miracle Viper can be produced at all. If Fiat is the new owner we will be seeing a slew of people's cars like the 500D. Fiat already owns Ferrari and Masaratti. I doubt if they want any competition for them.

Viper was a halo vehicle for Chrysler, they probabaly lost money on each one in the big corporate scheme of things and we as buyers reaped the benefit of an affordable super-car.

I recall in one of the past fuel crises when the Cadillac Eldorado was touted as the last convertible--it wasn't. The convertible came back strong and when BMW came out with one in 1984 I bought one. These are tough times for the US auto industy directly attributable to a gov that is doing the best it can to put it out of busineess so others can pick up the pieces for pennies on the dollar. The media doesn't like car's like the Viper exccept for the Tesla. It's just the times we are going through. They burn Hummer's, I'm happy if they don't stone me in frisco town wending my way trough the street demonsttation dance parties for same sex marriage.

All that land that the auto plants sit on has value. If it can't be used for industrial purposes any more, it would make a fine location for public housing and artist's lofts constructed with our tax contributions.

 

[daytonprowler]

Dodge reportedly has one lowball bidder for Viper franchise... but is it enough?

Look at it this way....all of our cars will double in value....and we can go to orphan car shows now. This is really sad. Hopefully things will work out. There is always hope.

 

[daytonprowler]

Devon Motors bid 5.5 million. If they can come up with the cash.
Allpar has Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, and Jeep car, minivan, and truck information

 

[Lawrenzo]

I'm glad I purchased my SSG vert last week

No matter what ultimately happens, I've got one of the best cars ever produced- period

 

[Bobpantax]

Have you ever had a close friend with a terminal disease? Do you remember what it felt like to sit with him or her every day for a few hours during the last two weeks waiting for death to come with the small hope that a miracle might happen? That is what this feels like.

 

[01sapphirebob]

Just gotta stay positive!!!

 

[PhoenixGTS]

"Viperski" or "Viperczyk" anyone? Autoweek saying Polish group is a bidder. Maybe Laurie on the GenI/II board has the inside scoop (he's Polish - right?)?

Dodge Viper operations draw limited interest: AutoWeek Magazine

 

[06blueviper]

They actually did get an offer for $5.5 million from Devon Motor Works. They want to use Viper Enterprise to build their own supercar. Chrysler is looking into whether they have sufficient resources to close the deal, so I guess they are seriously considering the offer.

Read more here:
Dodge reportedly has one lowball bidder for Viper franchise... but is it enough?

Devon's car:

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Martin]

Wow. Court documents are showing that, as of May 15, the only viable offer is this Devon deal? What about all the other "almost done" deals that we've been waiting for? I guess it's one of three things: court documents are wrong, the media isn't reporting correctly on the court documents, or there really wasn't an "almost done" deal as of May 15. Or, maybe there is a White Knight out there that didn't make an "official" offer on the Enterprise as of May 15 but is doing a $10MM+ handshake deal that isn't in writing anywhere? I give up - I'm just going to wait for June 8 to happen and hope for the best...

 

[Martin]

Have you ever had a close friend with a terminal disease? Do you remember what it felt like to sit with him or her every day for a few hours during the last two weeks waiting for death to come with the small hope that a miracle might happen? That is what this feels like.

Yeah, I have... Sadly and ironically, when the end finally came, it came as somewhat of a relief because, with that kind of finality, it at least removes the gut-wrenching anticipation of what's to come.

 

[gb66gth]

Chysler ought to sell to Devon. Hell, the Devon GTX looks so much like the Viper coupe that if you slapped a Viper logo on the side and said it was the next generation Viper it would work.
My other question is if and when the current Viper goes away, where are we going to get spare parts/replacement parts from?

 

[Martin]

Chysler ought to sell to Devon. Hell, the Devon GTX looks so much like the Viper coupe that if you slapped a Viper logo on the side and said it was the next generation Viper it would work.
My other question is if and when the current Viper goes away, where are we going to get spare parts/replacement parts from?

There might be some advantages to selling to them - especially if they're the only game in town. I think they should stick the Devon logo on the side of an ACR and call it the next generation Devon, though Their existing car looks a bit bloated and weird to me. About the only thing I like is the roofline - but that is apparently 100% Viper...

I doubt we'll have any problem finding parts for the forseeable future. There are enough Vipers out there that someone will pick up the parts business in a heartbeat. If they have the tooling, etc., it can be a big money-making machine.

 

[plumcrazy]

at roughly 2000 vipers / year, thats not likely if ya ask me.

tooling up for that has to be tough........

 

[ViperTony]

I'll remain optimistic, let's not forget: http://forums.viperclub.org/2700412-post21.html