Posted on 02/07/2012 9:47:10 AM PST by tobyhill
Fisker Automotive, an electric car maker that received a half-billion-dollar loan from the federal government, said Monday that it has laid off workers in Delaware and California.
The layoffs include 26 workers at a former General Motors plant in Wilmington that Fisker is retooling to manufacture its Nina plug-in hybrid sedan. Another 40 contractors and employees who were working in design and development of Fisker’s Karma luxury car in Anaheim, Calif., also have been cut.
The layoffs come as Fisker is seeking to renegotiate its loan agreement with the Department of Energy.
Fisker has received $193 million of the $529 million DOE loan, mostly for work on the Karma, which sells for about $100,000. The introduction of the Karma was delayed because of regulatory issues and battery pack problems that prompted a voluntary safety recall by Fisker.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I guess the Fisker isn’t selling... because I haven’t heard of any of them catching fire...:)
It’s a hybrid with a six-figure pricetag that is no more fuel-efficient than any conventional car in that price range. Why wouldn’t it sell? </sarc>
These guys don’t make cars,
Fisker, Aptera, Karma...
It’s just vaporware.
They produce a cool looking prototype and use it to bilk credulous investors looking to cash in on the next big thing. The problem is made much, much worse when the government drops money into the scam, increasing the confidence of investors, resulting in much more money being sunk into the project.
Eventually it goes toes-up, and it is the investors and government who wind up holding the bag.
But the last thing any of these “car” companies want to do is build cars. That is too much work. It is far more profitable to just rake in investor cash and squirrel it away in offshore accounts. Fisker solves that problem by making the car so expensive than absolutely nobody wants to buy one. Therefore they don’t have to build one.
A friend of mine works for Fisker...
Let’s just say this is no surprise to him or me. I need to check to see if he was one of the people let go today...
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