Dodge Selling The Viper To Highest Bidder

There’s a term for a vehicle that’s so special that it casts a spell on an entire brand – it’s called a “halo car.” There are quite a few halo cars etched in the public consciousness. The Corvette. The Mustang. The Supra. They don’t need to be described by a brand (i.e. Chevy, Ford, or Toyota) – they describe the brand all by themselves.

The Dodge Viper (designs, tooling, brand, trademarks and all) is up for sale, and there’s a good chance the new owner will be overseas.

Flashback to 1990, when the world was abuzz with the news that Chrysler was going to make an affordable supercar. “Chrysler?” people would say – “Really?” The Viper came out in 1991, and it was followed by a series of very successful vehicles (the new Ram, the Intrepid, even the Neon) that arguably resurrected the company. The Viper was, in short, a halo car. It cast a halo upon the entire brand that helped sell cars.

So why in the world would Chrysler part with the Viper?

Unfortunately, there are a few reasons. Federal “corporate average fuel economy” (CAFE) regulations penalize automakers for building anything that doesn’t get 35mpg. Federal safety and emissions regulations make development of a limited-production sports car very expensive, and these costs are hard to recover.

The Viper’s aluminum V10 was designed with the help of Lamborghini.

So it makes sense for Chrysler to sell off the Viper, despite understandable the objections of the strongest fans.

While it’s too soon to say where will the Viper end up, negotiations are under way. The talk is that Chinese and/or Indian automakers would look to the Viper as a way to establish their own companies in the USA. It sounds like the Viper isn’t done casting it’s halo just yet.