Buyers Circle Around Ailing Fisker Automotive

[Cincinnatus]

Electric car company Fisker Automotive appears to have found the deep pockets it needs.
 
CEO Tony Posawatz, who joined the Anaheim, Calif.-based company last year from General Motors, has said Fisker is seeking a “partner” that can provide the capital to restart production and build its second car, a sedan with an extended-range electric powertrain.
 
Now Fisker is reportedly weighing several bids ncluding one from Chinese state-owned company Dongfeng and Chinese conglomerate Geely, which bought Volvo and its plug-in electric vehicle technology from Ford. A Bloomberg report says Dongfeng has offered $350 million to buy about 85 percent of Fisker Automotive, which would be a fraction of what the company was valued at a few years ago.
 
That Fisker needs to find outside buyer is not surprising to company watchers. The company has had a number of setbacks, including delays and production problems bringing out its Karma, a plug-in electric luxury sports car. Fisker had to stop making the Karma last year because its battery supplier, A123 Systems, went bankrupt.
 
But the fact that potential buyers are from China is already raising alarms about Fisker, which raised $1.2 billion in venture capital and spent about $192 million in federal loans to build a factory. “Technology developed with American taxpayer subsidies should not be sold off to China,” Republican senator Charles Grassley told Bloomberg. He compared it to the acquisition of A123 Systems by China-based auto parts company Wanxiang Group.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/511576/buyers-circle-around-ailing-fisker-automotive/

Yep, Obama sure knows how to pick 'em. As an investor he makes an excellent community organizer.

[Rapunzel]

Another Obama stimulus payment down the tubes

[truth_seeker]

As a car enthusiast, I've followed Fisker, based on my home turf in Orange County. The Karma is beautiful, if now entirely practical in function.

The founder Henrik Fisker design beautiful vehicles, no doubt....he's been with Aston Marton, BMW, his own couchbuilding company, before founding Fisker.

The technology configuration of the Karma is like the Volt, the Prius plug in, the Ford C-Max, etc.  A regular gas-electric hybrid, like the Prius does NOT recharge by plugging it in. It recharges by driving it, from brakes, etc. It can go a short distance on electric, but must have a regular gasoline motor.

A plug in like the Volt, the Fisker Karma, etc. can recharge from plugging in, and can go some distance on electric only.

A third category of electric ONLY like the Nissan leaf, has no on board gas engine, at all. I believe the Tesla is electric only. This category was recently noted by the Prius engineer of Toyota as being largely NOT practical, due to range and charge time--for most Americans.

I am not writing off Fisker. They didn't get this far, without some big plusses. Interest from Geely is significant. They bought Volvo, and then didn't ruin it.

Ford has good hybrid technology, and has introduced their C-Max with regular hybrid, and with plug-in. Toyota has introduced plug in for their Prius.

The Obama stmiulus was ill-conceived, but it remains in the taxpayers' interst for the firms to survive and repay.

[Oceander]

"Ill-advised" is putting it mildly.