GR, Mi offers to buy Viper brand from ObamaCo

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/05/28/dodge-reportedly-gets-no-takers-for-10m-viper-franchise-will/

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.

$10 million? Do we get the rights and the tooling and the parts inventory...? Come ON, people!

Seriously...seems way cheap. I wonder if that includes all the stuff they go (went?) racing with? Let me see what I have in the couch...

That's what I was thinking. I mean, we give 50 billion to GM to keep the lights on long enough to make it to bankruptcy court, ten million for Viper? Hey, I'm in for ten large. We just need 1000 investors and we have a car company.

GRMers could raise that kind of capital - together. Now that's something I could get behind. How do we start selling stock?

I'm not sure if I'm in love or in hate with that Devon? It has some really really nice aspects to it, but there are some problems as well. It might just be the silver paint on the side.

I really like the way they've done the cockpit, rear window, tail and wing

Duke wrote: $10 million? Do we get the rights and the tooling and the parts inventory...? Come ON, people!

I bet most all of the tooling belongs to suppliers. Trying to reconstitute all the tooling from so many suppliers (in the case of those going under or unwilling to continue making parts at much lower volumes without substantial price increases) would probably be a nightmare in addition to costing a lot more on top of the $10M. I doubt the service parts inventory (or already built but unsold cars) would be included, but I suppose new parts might be included...not that they'd have much in inventory right now.

Even then, $10M or less does seem pretty cheap. It's definitely a buyer's market if you can afford to take a chance!

Bryce

Before you get too excited:

1) how many vipers are sold every year 2) how much does it cost to make a viper 3) how much does it cost to make a future viper

and how does that comapre with spending $10M, and how quickly you'll get back that investment.

If you ask me, I wouldn't touch it. Without some serious upgrades, you could not make decent money on a Viper to make it worth the investment. (which is why Chrysler is interested in dropping it for the relative song of $10M).

Eric

were exactly is this place in GR? I want to stop by

The Vipers always been a loss leader. Even at the current sticker price how many are they selling? If this was the only product for a new company how much would they need to charge to make it profitable? Then, it's an old old platform that really needs updating, where does the money come for that? Run don't walk.

$10m? Thats sounds like buying the rights to produce the car, not the production and equipment to produce the car. How much was Carol Shelby Inc. trying to squeeze out of the kit car companies?

RossD wrote: $10m? Thats sounds like buying the rights to produce the car, not the production and equipment to produce the car. How much was Carol Shelby Inc. trying to squeeze out of the kit car companies?

Plus one. $10 mil would buy you the rights to use the emblems and produce the car etc but I bet there's a couple big strings attached. Chrysler would keep all the stamp dies, molds, etc and you'd have to buy your castings etc from them.

Nashco wrote: I bet most all of the tooling belongs to suppliers.

Common automotive supply chain process is to have the tooling owned by the company. The supplier is reimbursed through amortization of the tooling cost over X pieces.

We really only need to make one for each of us and then declare bankruptcy. It's how all the cool kids do it.

The company I work at blew 2 million to fire the VP of HR. They didn't even really fire him, everyone just agreed that he would go away and they gave him 2 million to do it before his contract ran out. How hard is HR? You pick up the phone, call a couple recuiters, tell them you need a whatever, then go home for the day. Two million to go away. So, I look at this as the same as firing 5 VP's of HR. That's like pocket change. One promo at Wally World is bigger than that. I bet we can get more than that from Mattel for the rights to make Hotwheels Vipers. Throw in a couple of model builders like Tamiya, add in a line of energy drinks and we are even.

We don't want to go public. SOX is the death of publicly traded business. All smart businesses now are private, and we need to keep Nuevo Viper, Inc. private. I call dibs on VP of IT and Medical Director.

Wally wrote: We really only need to make one for each of us and then declare bankruptcy. It's how all the cool kids do it.

I want two-one pink and one black (if I did that the wife would take the black one )

Dr. Hess wrote: The company I work at blew 2 million to fire the VP of HR. They didn't even really fire him, everyone just agreed that he would go away and they gave him 2 million to do it before his contract ran out. How hard is HR? You pick up the phone, call a couple recuiters, tell them you need a whatever, then go home for the day. Two million to go away. So, I look at this as the same as firing 5 VP's of HR. That's like pocket change. One promo at Wally World is bigger than that. I bet we can get more than that from Mattel for the rights to make Hotwheels Vipers. Throw in a couple of model builders like Tamiya, add in a line of energy drinks and we are even. We don't want to go public. SOX is the death of publicly traded business. All smart businesses now are private, and we need to keep Nuevo Viper, Inc. private. I call dibs on VP of IT and Medical Director.

Chief Indecision Officer claimed by Mofo.

Dr. Hess wrote: That's what I was thinking. I mean, we give 50 billion to GM to keep the lights on long enough to make it to bankruptcy court,

LOL! So true though...reminds me of what I posted in this thread:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/25b-loan-approved-for-auto-makers/3533/page1/

I know there are a few people who work at GM here that were pissed off, but they were making mostly bland me-too boringmobiles for decades (I think it's safe to say nobody on this board had any say in what kind of cars they made), apart from some of the "too good for Americans" cars they were selling overseas. I try not to be biased despite my personal experiences with GM cars, but I get the distinct feeling that the company was running largely on a combination of patriotism and their accountants saying "It's just a flesh wound".

How could anyone expect a company like that to turn their "meh here's a car, take it or leave it" business model around on the drop of a hat?

Buying the Viper brand for $10m would be like buying a $5k Ferrari. It seems like a good deal at first, but it's really just the down payment, and it would take you at least 10 times that amount to make it work.

Also while that car looks pretty decent, I don't think the European styling suits the Viper brand.

It's like Pierce Brosnan starring in a Die Hard movie.

Dr. Hess wrote: The company I work at blew 2 million to fire the VP of HR. They didn't even really fire him, everyone just agreed that he would go away and they gave him 2 million to do it before his contract ran out. How hard is HR? You pick up the phone, call a couple recuiters, tell them you need a whatever, then go home for the day. Two million to go away. So, I look at this as the same as firing 5 VP's of HR. That's like pocket change. One promo at Wally World is bigger than that. I bet we can get more than that from Mattel for the rights to make Hotwheels Vipers. Throw in a couple of model builders like Tamiya, add in a line of energy drinks and we are even. We don't want to go public. SOX is the death of publicly traded business. All smart businesses now are private, and we need to keep Nuevo Viper, Inc. private. I call dibs on VP of IT and Medical Director.

Sounds good! I'll be the HR director!

Leave Brosnan out of this, the martians may come back.

Osterkraut wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: The company I work at blew 2 million to fire the VP of HR. They didn't even really fire him, everyone just agreed that he would go away and they gave him 2 million to do it before his contract ran out. How hard is HR? You pick up the phone, call a couple recuiters, tell them you need a whatever, then go home for the day. Two million to go away. So, I look at this as the same as firing 5 VP's of HR. That's like pocket change. One promo at Wally World is bigger than that. I bet we can get more than that from Mattel for the rights to make Hotwheels Vipers. Throw in a couple of model builders like Tamiya, add in a line of energy drinks and we are even. We don't want to go public. SOX is the death of publicly traded business. All smart businesses now are private, and we need to keep Nuevo Viper, Inc. private. I call dibs on VP of IT and Medical Director.

Sounds good! I'll be the HR director!

Hey I'll be your IT guy if you pay me better. Have fun with your hands-off desk jockeying Hess

Wally wrote: We really only need to make one for each of us and then declare bankruptcy. It's how all the cool kids do it.

carguy123 said: The one trivial fact that people keep forgetting about the bailout is that it isn't lost money. It's a freakin' loan! And it's also at a very high interest rate so there is money to be made.

good times.

What loan? Has anyone actually seen the agreements here? Like with GM. I heard on the WSJ radio this AM that the deal we U.S. Americans are getting is: GM gets around 50-70 Billion Dollars. The US gets some stock, currently worthless, but if everything goes "just right" we U.S. Americans can get about 5 Billion back from that stock. Sounds like a hell of a deal.

Dr. Hess wrote: We don't want to go public. SOX is the death of publicly traded business. All smart businesses now are private, and we need to keep Nuevo Viper, Inc. private. I call dibs on VP of IT and Medical Director.

If it did go public then we would have to do on a European or Asia stock exchange.