It appears that Chrysler has granted the delightfully mental Viper sportscar a stay of execution, having failed to find an appropriate buyer for the brand.

When Chrysler first announced that they would be off-loading the Viper there seemed to be several plausible buyers, with both Saleen and Roush being mentioned as interested parties. But, with Saleen going into administration and Roush being hit by the economic downturn along with everyone else, only one company actually put some money on the table. But, despite Chrysler’s need to scrape together some cash, the pile wasn’t nearly large enough.

The expected course of action was widely suspected to be the closure of the production facility and the death of the 8.4-litre, 600bhp SRT10 and the Viper brand, but it is safe – for now at least.

The Viper will continue to be produced at its Connor Avenue home until the end of the 2010 model year, but there are no details on what will happen after that. Presumably its future will depend on whether or not we’re all rich again by then, or still wondering where all that money went.