Chrysler explores sale of Dodge Viper car business

"We have been approached by third parties who are interested in exploring future possibilities for Viper," the chief executive, Robert L Nardelli, said on Wednesday in a memorandum to employees.

"As the company evaluates strategic options to maximize core operations and leverage its assets, we have agreed to listen to these parties ," Nardelli added. The Dodge Viper is a lowvolume V10-powered sports car, which was first produced in 1992.

A Chrysler spokesman, Todd Goyer, said about 11 Viper cars are built daily at Chrysler's Conner Avenue assembly plant in Detroit. Chrysler has sold 682 Vipers so far this year, up 111 per cent from the previous year.

Like its larger competitors, General Motors and Ford Motor, Chrysler, which is in majority-owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, has faced scrutiny over its ability to ride out of a downturn in American auto sales that many analysts expect to stretch through 2009.

All three Detroit automakers have been hit hard by the sharp decline in sales of pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans that followed the rise in gas prices this year.

Chrysler said the decision on Viper is a stand-alone strategic review, unique to Viper and it has not set a definitive timetable for completion of the review. Chrysler, which has retained Lazard as its financial adviser on Viper, said earlier that it had identified about $1 billion in nonearning assets for potential sale to raise cash.

The company, which has released limited financial data since Cerberus bought it from Daimler about a year ago, ended June with $11.7 billion in cash and had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $1.1 billion in the first half of the year.