Posted on 06/01/2009 11:44:02 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Rising in Motown's ruins: a generation of entrepreneurs who want to make new kinds of cars in new ways. They just might give Amereica another century in this vital industry.
In the gloomy basement cafeteria of New York's Jacob Javits Center, Henrik Fisker is choking down a chicken sandwich and imagining a new kind of American car company. Almost everything is outsourced--engineering, components, the electric power train, manufacturing. No messy work rules to worry about, no postretirement health care. Only design and marketing remain in-house. ''It's a great time to launch a new car company like ours,'' he says, speaking at April's New York Auto Show, which was drowning in obituaries for the car business. ''We have a different business model.'' If you were a semiconductor executive, you'd call this a fabless car company.
Handsome, blond and draped in Armani, the 45-year-old Fisker, a celebrated car designer, is chief executive of Fisker Automotive, headquartered 1,970 miles away from Detroit in Irvine, Calif. His two-year-old company, backed by not quite $200 million in venture capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Palo Alto Investors and the Qatar Investment Authority, begins production in November of the 100mpg Fisker Karma, an $88,000 plug-in hybrid sports sedan. Fisker expects to sell 15,000 Karmas a year, including a convertible due in 2011. He has presold 1,300 so far.
But he hopes to be more than just another gadget salesman for the Segway set. His audacious goal: branch out to higher-volume models and sell 100,000 vehicles year worldwide. That's more than Audi, Volvo or Mitsubishi now sell annually in the U.S. He expects sales to hit $3.5 billion once the next model, a $50,000 plug-in, debuts in three to five years. ''America has never been more ready for a new American car company,'' says
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Very interesting. I’m surprised he’s basing it in CA, though. Their tax man must be licking his chops.
There are deals to be made in some Cali municipalities. Irvine has been hit hard in the last 7 yrs or so. May many empty office building and manufacturing shells sitting empty after being over-built in the mis90’s and early ‘00s. They are willing to do some tax deferment with the right businesses and connections. Look for who his investors are; that might give some hints.
I look for the company to quietly move to a more tax-friendly environment if it really does take off. And I wish them all the success they can muster in their endeavor.
So much for putting Americans to work.
You can work to create a company that is also based overseas
Then you sell your 100k toy to all the people that work retail after manufacturing is finally gone
Hopefully we won’t need to build any armor divisions
It's "Atlas Shrugged" time in America.
But he hopes to be more than just another gadget salesman for the Segway set. His audacious goal: branch out to higher-volume models and sell 100,000 vehicles year worldwide. That's more than Audi, Volvo or Mitsubishi now sell annually in the U.S. He expects sales to hit $3.5 billion once the next model, a $50,000 plug-in, debuts in three to five years.
100,000, per year. Worldwide. Compared to the US sales of three minor brands.
Color me unimpressed.
Particularly after Obama finishes ruining the US electrical generating industry, and inflation hits.
Nobody will be able to afford a $50,000 car.
And no details on the battery (think Chevy Volt).
Cheers!
Not to worry...the article says this is a 100 mpg car. It must have the fabled “100 mpg carburetor” in it. With just a little juice during an overnight plug-in feed, they could hit 1,000 mpg by June 2010. Heck, with some fine tuning and topping off a bit more juice, I’m sure they could hit 10,000 mpg a couple months later.
The author is obviously a savant graduate of an elite “journalism” school, but flunked 8th grade general science and never took a math or science course after that.
And when the parts are substandard????
Oh! I guess that will be the standard.
It would be easier to just get rid of the Unions, and keep the jobs in the US.
These guys always pop up during downtimes. He’ll be gone before anyone notices.
They are driving people like Fisker away. He must have good reasons for headquartering in CA, though, some way around the tax threat, or like you said, a good exit plan to a tax-friendly state, if he succeeds.
15 to 20 engineers from lighting supplier Valeo for eight months to work on the Karma’s distinctive bi-xenon headlights.
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How can it be cost efficient to have this many people working on a headlight????
Meanwhile, you're sitting on millions in WIP (work in process), you're missing your delivery dates and your cash flow has gone to hell because you can't invoice for stuff you haven't delivered.
Outsourcing is NOT a free ride.
I notice he's keeping the arty (design) and sales sides in house. So his company will have ZERO resident technical expertise.
Hmmmm...
yitbos
Methinks reporterette Joanne is having a Fiskerasm....
IMHO the guy is as big a charlatan as Bricklin was.
I prefer a Tucker myself.
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