Chrysler has been trying to sell its Dodge Viper sports car business since late last year but according to the struggling automaker, the once prominent brand couldn’t even muster up offers of $10 million. In fact, Chrysler insisted that it had received only one bid of $5.5 million from Devon Motorworks, which planned to use the Viper platform for its own GTX supercar.

It has since been revealed that several group had made offers of up to $35 million but these were before Chrysler’s bankruptcy, though there were reportedly knocked back for having insufficient financing.

Fast forward to today, and Chrysler, now out of bankruptcy and in bed with Fiat, has announced that it has turned over all the Viper assets, including rights to the name, to the Italian auto giant. It’s now up to Fiat to decide whether it still wants to sell the Viper business or phase out altogether, reports Edmunds. Phasing out the brand, as dreadful as it sounds, is a possibility that’s gaining credence as there are fears that the Viper range is a competitor for the Ferrari and Maserati brands.

The brand's sale, or death, would mark the end of a 17-year run of the Viper at Chrysler, with the first model having debuted in the 1992 model year. The company just produced its 25,000th Viper in March of this year, and celebrated the event with festivities that included the launch of the track-focused Viper SRT10 ACR.

Source: http://car.ohbabe.info/ver2/?cmd=act:news|newsid:2676