World going to hell; some people want to drive Vipers there

Yeah, verily, in the car business in January, the sun turned as black as sackcloth and the moon became as blood. But over at Chrysler’s Connor Avenue plant in Detroit, where they build the Viper, it was a party!

Among the dire sales numbers released Tuesday — January U.S. auto sales down 37%, including slides of 41.6% for Ford, 49% for GM and 55% for Chrysler — was this anomalous factoid: Sales of the Dodge Viper were up 74%. The company sold 127 of the poisonous snakes last month, up from 73 in January 2008.

Why would this be strange? Well, for one thing, the Viper ($91,220 to $104,020) is constructed of pure, unalloyed discretionary income, so you would assume its sales would be a least a little susceptible to the larger effects of the recession. Also, the 10-cylinder, 8.4-liter, 600-hp throttle monster under the hood returns some of the worst fuel economy on the market (13 mpg city/22 highway).

Saleen says auction is not a fire sale

As Mark Twain might say — if he’d been in the business of building high-performance automobiles — news of Saleen Inc.’s demise appears to be greatly exaggerated.

Last month, websites aimed at specialty car buffs were circulating reports of an auction of Saleen property that smelled suspiciously like the kind of fire sale that accompanies a bankruptcy filing. Besides the usual cache of chairs, desks, filing cabinets and other office essentials, the auction catalog for the niche automaker included machine tools, car parts and — gasp! — 20 vehicles.

Saleen exec Marques McCammon, while acknowledging that his firm is dealing with some of the same woes as their larger car-making brethren, insists the company isn't on the brink of insolvency. In a recent memo, McCammon ticked off a list of current and upcoming Saleen projects, including a refreshed four-vehicle lineup for 2009, launch of the new Racecraft performance marque and continued development of its S5S Raptor supercar, above.

“Now, I may not be the brightest guy, but I would guess that you don’t make these kind of investments/announcements if you are planning on closing your doors in a month,” McCammon wrote.

In fact, he hinted in an interview Thursday that the other rumor floating around about Saleen — that the company may be a bidder for Chrysler’s Viper sports car business — may be true.

So what’s with the auction?

According to McCammon, the private equity firm that owns Saleen, L.A.-based Hancock Park Associates, last year bought Michigan automotive component supplier ASC Inc. Besides being the catalyst for moving the company’s center of gravity from Irvine to suburban Detroit, the deal left the firms with a heap of redundant office supplies, car parts and factory equipment.

Chrysler to shed Viper

Chrysler is putting its Dodge Viper sports car business up for sale in the latest move by a U.S. automaker to shed a niche product.

The No. 3 U.S.-based car company said today that it had been approached by potential buyers for the Viper unit, which Chrysler wants to sell as part of its strategy of focusing on a smaller number of core products.

Analysts said the division could fetch up to $100 million. Potential buyers include East Asian and Indian automakers that have been looking to get instant entree into global markets by buying established brands. Indian automaker Tata, for instance, bought the Land Rover and Jaguar brands from Ford this year.

A small-scale "supercar" builder such as Shelby or Saleen could also be a potential buyer, although the price tag could be a bit steep for outfits of that size, said David Healy, an analyst at Burnham Securities.

The Viper, introduced in 1992, is a "halo" car. The intention is to generate buzz, not big sales.

Although the aggressively styled speedster has maintained a loyal following since its introduction — there are Viper clubs across the country — its halo may be dimming a bit.

"I'm not sure how many people go into a Dodge showroom and buy a Caliber after they 'ooh' and 'aah' over a Viper," Healy said. "I'm not sure it's as much of a traffic builder as it might have been when it was new."