DETROIT — In one of the stranger twists to the Chrysler bankruptcy story, a Michigan garlic bread entrepreneur who owns a 2008 Dodge Viper has made a $5.5 million bid to buy the Viper brand and to lease the Conner Avenue plant here where the supercar is built.
Scott Devon, 47, is a Grand Rapids, Michigan, entrepreneur who owns Cole's Quality Foods, which is known for its frozen garlic bread. He put in a $5.5 million bid to buy Viper earlier this month. "We're in limbo," Mike Rosenau, Devon's spokesman, told Inside Line on Friday. "Chrysler needs to go through it [the bid] to see if he's financially capable. They have not yet responded to the number."
Rosenau added: "We don't want to get into what we want to do with Viper at this point."
Devon owns Devon Motor Works, which does not build or sell any vehicles at this point. The company's Web site touts the Devon GTX as "the new shape of the Supercar from America." However, Rosenau described the content of the Web site as "Devon's musings" and said the Devon GTX is "computer generated and not an actual car."
Devon appears to be the only serious bidder for Viper, according to the May 26 declaration of consultant Robert Manzo in Chrysler's bankruptcy court filings. The declaration says that Chrysler is looking into "next steps, including demonstration of financing capabilities," in regard to the Devon Motor Works bid. Manzo is the executive director of Capstone Advisory Group, a financial advisory services firm that says it has expertise in turnaround and crisis management.
Chrysler Chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli said earlier this week in a bankruptcy filing that the company has "received no purchaser interest" after putting the for-sale sign in front of the Conner Avenue plant for "only $10 million."
"The recent efforts by other OEMs to sell stand-alone car lines, including Saturn, Opel, Saab and Hummer, provide additional evidence of the extremely depressed market for stand-alone automotive brands," Nardelli said in the filing.
According to Manzo's filing, Chrysler also received an e-mail inquiry about Viper on May 15 from an unnamed auto group that included Polish investors. Manzo said the inquiry is "awaiting follow-up discussion."
Chrysler has been trying to sell the Viper brand since August. According to a separate bankruptcy filing, the business generated earnings of $16 million in 2008 before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization.
When Chrysler filed for bankruptcy a month ago, it broke its assets and liabilities into two groups, those belonging to "OldCo," or the old company, and New Chrysler, the entity that Italian automaker Fiat would assume. Among the OldCo assets are the Conner plant, which builds the Viper products with about 115 workers. The listing of the Conner plant among the OldCo assets casts doubt on whether the Viper brand will survive the automaker's bankruptcy.
Inside Line says: At least one suitor emerges to save the Dodge Viper brand, but Chrysler has yet to give us any clue as to whether he has a chance. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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