DailyTech - Fisker Hopes to Restart Karma Production "Fairly Soon"

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Auto Fisker Hopes to Restart Karma Production "Fairly Soon"
Tiffany Kaiser - February 8, 2013 12:24 PM

21 comment(s) - last by Reclaimer77.. on Feb 12 at 5:21 PM

Fisker Karma (Source: jalopnik.com)

It's waiting on troubled battery maker A123

Fisker Automotive has been waiting on its lithium-ion battery supplier in order to resume Karma production, and while there's no word yet on when that'll happen, Fisker predicts "fairly soon."

Fisker's battery maker for the plug-in Karma is A123 Systems, which filed for bankruptcy in October 2012. In December, the company was acquired by Chinese firm Wanxiang Group for about $260 million.

Fisker has been waiting on A123 to come out of this bankruptcy situation before restarting Karma production, but an exact date is unclear at this point.

Fisker has been having money issues of its own, though, and is currently looking for an investor. Some analysts say the company could be acquired.

Fisker received $529 million in DOE loans in April 2010. The loans were part of a program to progress development of high-tech vehicles, where Fisker received $169 million for Karma plug-in engineering and $359 million for Nina production. The loans were also meant to revamp a closed General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware for Fisker EV production.

However, Fisker fell a little behind on its production schedule, and in May 2011, DOE froze the loans due to "unmet milestones." Fisker had only drawn $193 million of it at that point. In October 2012, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee decided to look into the original terms of its loan to Fisker Automotive, questioning whether DOE will step in to help the electric vehicle (EV) automaker if it goes bankrupt and investors are allowed to retrieve their money.

On top of money issues, Fisker had a few recalls throughout 2012. In March, A123 said it would replace nearly 600 Karma batteries for $55 million when issues occurred. Later, in August, Fisker recalled 2,400 Karmas after a cooling fan issue led to a fire in California.

Source: The Detroit News

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RE: Fisker Karma is a horrible car.

By Flunk on 2/8/2013 6:07:09 PM , Rating: 3

I don`t think there are plenty of Karma owners. In fact the reason they're nearly bankrupt is that they have sold so few cars. Unlike Tesla they are just running off investment capital until it's gone. They have never made a profit. I wouldn't be surprised if they are not bought by a Chinese company so they can enter the US market.

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RE: Fisker Karma is a horrible car.

By BZDTemp on 2/9/2013 12:10:59 PM , Rating: 3

Well it depends on your definition of "plenty" but Fisker has made and sold around 2,000 cars.

As for going bankrupt I'm not so sure but what has me wondering why it seems so many people hold a grudge against the company. To me Fisker is an exciting startup and while they have gotten a government loan that is no different than many other companies and it is not like they have behaved bad in any way. If anything people should be wishing for them to succeed, get the Delaware plant operational and really show the world what they can do.

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