Theres a lot of misinformation about the car and a lot of unnecessary political bias coming into thediscussion around the company. The 169M loaned for Karma was not spent hiring or manufacturing any labor in Finland. It was out towards tooling and testing and design from US based companies. About 45% of te Karma parts come from US suppliers like GM. A123, TRW etc. The rest of the loan is going into the second model which also sources many parts from US companies and will be built here. Also Fisker has created over 500 US jobs between Anaheim and the Wilmington plant. You dont see that mentioned in the sensationalist outcry lately.

Electric car maker and U.S. loan recipient Fisker cuts jobs

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Fisker Automotive, the electric car company that received $528 million in Energy Department loan guarantees, announced layoffs at its Delaware production facility on Monday.

The Energy Department agreed to support two Fisker electric car projects: a luxury model -- the$103,000 Karma, which is on sale now -- and a more affordable sedan, the Nina.

The loans were to be paid in phases, but Fisker has missed production goals, keeping much of the federal funding out of reach for now. Fisker said it is working to renegotiate the loan agreement with the government.

"We have temporarily delayed work at the plant based on ongoing discussions with the DOE regarding funding for the Project Nina program. As a result, we have laid off 26 people," the company said in a statement Monday.

The Energy Department has drawn criticism in the past year when some of the startups it backed went belly up. Three companies that got loan guarantees or grants -- advanced solar panel maker Solyndra, battery-maker Ener1, and alternative energy firm Beacon Power -- have fallen into bankruptcy.

Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera said both sides continue to work together and that Fisker's problems were typical for startups.

"The department is working with Fisker to review a revised business plan and determine the best path forward so the company can meet its benchmarks, produce cars and employ workers here in America," LaVera said.

Fisker Karma: Low-calorie sweetness

Fisker said it has received $193 million in loan guarantees from the government so far, mostly for its Karma program, and continues to pursue alternative funding sources.

"We have successfully raised an additional $260 million of equity in late 2011, bringing the total amount of private equity financing to more than $850 million," the company said.

Fisker's production facility in Delaware is a General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) plant that is being recommissioned. The plant will make Fisker's Nina sedan, but production there has yet to begin.

Vice President Joe Biden, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker were together in 2009 to announce plans for the production facility.

At the time, union workers were promised the chance to fill many of the 2,000 factory jobs producing the plug-in electric sedan. It was unclear Monday how many of those positions had ever been filled.

Perfect green car. Park it in the driveway and walk. That really saves on fuel.

Investigators believe that a Fisker Karma is the source of a fire that caused approximately $100,000 worth of damage to a newly-built house in Sugar Land, Texas.

The owner of the house told the Ford Bend County fire department that he smelled burning rubber when he pulled the Karma into his garage. Less than three minutes later the hybrid-electric sedan was on fire.

The fire department has not been able to identify the precise cause of the blaze, but it is adamant that the Karma deserves the blame.

“Yes, the Karma was the origin of the fire, but what exactly caused that we don’t know at this time,” said Robert Baker, the chief fire investigator of Fort Bend County.

Fisker engineers and several insurance companies have joined the fire department in investigating the incident.

Autoweek asked Fisker if it had any comments about the fire. The company said that its cause has yet to be determined and that it is waiting for an official report to be published before it draws any conclusions.

Fisker added that “based on initial observations and inspections, the Karma’s lithium ion battery pack was not being charged at the time and is still intact and does not appear to have been a contributing factor in this incident.”

About 239 Karmas were recalled last December to fix an improperly-positioned hose clamp that could potentially lead to a fire.

The Karma that burst into flames last week was built after the recall. It still had temporary paper tags, meaning that it was less than 60 days old.

The fire totaled two other vehicles in the garage, a Mercedes-Benz SUV and an Acura NSX. There were no injuries reported.

A garage fire involving a Fisker Karma last week in Texas may have been the result of poor engine packaging, a new report finds. Initial reports suggested the hybrid’s lithium-ion battery pack could be at fault.

Jon Bereisa, CEO of consultancy Auto Lectrification and a former General Motors engineer that worked on both the EV1 and the Chevrolet Volt, revealed to Automotive News that the cause of the Karma fire was likely due to the sedan’s tight engine and exhaust packaging, not the hybrid’s battery pack.

“That engine is shoehorned into that bay, because they had to use a larger engine, because it was too heavy a car,” Bereisa said. “As a result, there’s no room for exhaust routing and heat shielding to route the heat away.”

Any kind of fluid leak combined with those cramped conditions would be enough to spark a fire, Bereisa said.

Bereisa says his theory is supported by the eyewitness account of Jeremy Gutierrez, the owner of the Karma in question. Gutierrez said he smelled burning rubber just before the fire, which Bereisa says indicates the blaze started under the Karma’s hood.

“You don’t smell rubber with batteries, but you will if it’s something on the engine.”

Authorities haven’t identified what sent the Karma up in flames, but the car’s battery pack was found intact, indicating it wasn’t the source of the fire.

Designed to reflect Henrik’s paradigm of Responsible Luxury™, the Fisker Karma is the first American-designed and engineered luxury vehicle specifically developed to appeal to world markets. It is the only luxury sedan in the world that meets future fuel consumption and emission requirements, making it suitable for any international city.

The only true Electric Vehicle with extended range, the Fisker Karma drives its rear wheels using two rear-mounted 201.5 horsepower (150 kW) electric traction motors that draw energy from the lithium-ion battery pack for up to 50 miles (80 km). The gasoline engine drives a 175 kW electric generator to power the motors; there is no mechanical link between this engine and the drive motors.

Uniquely, the Fisker Karma can run in one of two drive modes: Stealth and Sport. Stealth Mode maximizes efficiency, giving the car its greatest range on battery power before activating the gasoline engine-driven generator to sustain battery charge. In Stealth Mode, the Karma can accelerate from zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 7.9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 95 mph (153 km/h). With Sport Mode engaged, the gasoline engine drives the generator to provide enough electricity for 403 total system horsepower, allowing the Karma to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just 5.9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h).

In all aspects of performance, the Fisker Karma is designed to be a true driver’s car. Its proprietary, advanced aluminum space frame incorporates new levels of rigidity and strength that give the Karma world-class ride and handling characteristics. Fisker Automotive’s engineering team designed the Karma’s space frame around the car’s unique powertrain, filing for multiple patents in the process.

Benefitting from a four-wheel independent SLA (double-wishbone) suspension, also employing aluminum components, the Karma has been specifically tuned to run on standard 22-inch aluminum wheels, a first for a production car.

Production of the Fisker Karma recently started at Valmet Automotive’s Uusikaupunki facility in Finland with Fisker aiming to achieve full build rate by the second half of 2011. It is Fisker’s plan to deliver vehicles to all current deposit holders during the 2011 model year.

Fisker Karma Proves 83 km/51.6 Mile Electric Range in TUV Tests

The Fisker Karma has achieved 83 km/51.6 miles running in silence on electric-only mode during independent fuel efficiency tests carried out by Europe’s regulatory body, the Technischer Ueberwachungs Verein (TUV) today (“De” according Annex 9 of ECE R 101).

The TUV have carried out the most thorough tests yet of the Karma’s real-world urban performance. This is an independent process that measures every element of the Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid’s performance.

“We are delighted that the TUV has confirmed that most owners will achieve a 50 mile range running purely on electric during their daily commute,” said Fisker Automotive CEO and co-founder Henrik Fisker.

The Karma has already been awarded the highest possible score of 10 out of 10 for fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions on its label from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Fisker has announced that it has found the cause of the fire that destroyed the front left side of a Karma plug-in hybrid ten days ago.

The California-based company conducted a full investigation with the help of a fire expert from Pacific Rim Investigative Services Group and found that the blaze originated in the car’s low-speed cooling fan.

Fisker explained in a press release that the sealed component had an internal fault which caused it to fail, overheat and burn up. A more precise account of what happened was not given.

As a result of the fire Fisker is conducting a voluntary recall that affects all Karma models sold to date. Dealers will replace the cooling fan with an updated one and add an extra fuse to the system for protection.

The startup automaker made it clear that the fire was not due to the Karma’s battery pack, engine or unorthodox exhaust routing.

Mr. Rudy Burger, the owner of the cremated Karma, said that he was impressed with how quickly and efficiently Fisker dealt with the problem.

“Fisker is a great company and one that I am personally planning to invest in. I look forward to getting behind the wheel of my next Fisker,” said Burger.

Fisker is dealing with fire concerns once again after 16 Karma sedans caught fire and burned to the ground after being submerged by floods caused by Hurricane Sandy. The vehicles were located in Port Newark, New Jersey.

So far the exact cause of the fires remains a mystery, but it likely has to do with the Karam's lithium-ion battery pack and electrical system coming into contact with the ocean's corrosive salt water. No injuries were caused by the blaze and Fisker says it is currently investigating the matter.

“It was reported today that several Fisker Karmas were damaged by fire at the Port of Newark after being submerged in sea water during Superstorm Sandy. We can report that there were no injuries and none of the cars were being charged at the time,” Fisker said in a statement.

"We have confidence in the Fisker Karma and safety is our primary concern. While we intend to find the cause as quickly as possible, storm damage has restricted access to the port.”

Prior to the most recent event, two other Fisker Karmas have spontaneously caught fire, resulting in one recall. One of those two fires was blamed on a faulty cooling fan, but it seems unlikely that a cooling fan was the root of the Port Newark fire – especially considering how many vehicles were involved.

Be sure to check back as we continue to monitor this story.

DETROIT (AP) — Fisker Automotive Inc., maker of the $100,000 Karma sports car, confirmed Wednesday that co-founder Henrik Fisker has left the company.

The company gave no reason for the resignation. But the trade publication Automotive News reported that Henrik Fisker told it in an emailed statement that he left after several major disagreements on business strategy. He didn't give further details.

The $100,000 Karma plug-in hybrid sports car is the only model Fisker currently sells. It's developing a lower-cost model — the Atlantic coupe — which would sell for around $55,000.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy suspended a $529 million loan to Fisker after introduction of the Karma was delayed due to trouble with battery packs. Fisker got $193 million from the government before the payments were stopped in May of 2011.

In August, the Anaheim, Calif., company brought in former General Motors electric car chief Tony Posawatz as CEO. He has favored alliances or sale of the company. There are reports that some Chinese automakers are interested.

Fisker said in a statement that Henrik Fisker's departure won't affect its pursuit of "strategic partners" and additional financing. "The company has a strong and experienced management team and its strategy has not changed," the statement said.

China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has reportedly decided to end its pursuit of a majority stake in Fisker Automotive.

Two sources familiar with the situation confirmed to Reuters on Monday that Geely's executive board has pulled the plug on the firm's final bid to acquire Fisker. Geely, which owns Volvo, has been holding top-level talks with Fisker over the last several weeks.

Although Geely has yet to officially comment on the subject, insiders says the company's board was simply unable to justify the risk of purchasing the struggling automaker. Fisker, which makes the Karma plug-in sedan, hasn't produced a single vehicle since late last year and was recently forced to hire an outside consultant to slow its cash burn.

Fisker's founder and namesake, Henrik Fisker, has also recently stepped down from the company.

China's Dongfeng Motor Group Co. remains in the running to acquire Fisker, but it remains unknown if the California-based automaker will automatically settle for Dongfeng's bid. It is believed that Dongfeng has offered between $200-$300 million to acquire a majority stake in Fisker.

This week Fisker Automotive, the California-based maker of the Karma hired restructuring lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis LLP to begin exploring potential bankruptcy protection.

Needing cash, having not produced a Karma since last July, unable to find a suitable partner or investor, and with an April 22 loan payment looming, Fisker is considering the possibility and needs to know what its options are.

The company also recently furloughed 200 U.S. workers to save money, and it is on the hook for an undisclosed payment on about $192 million in debt under the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.

Fisker has played down the furloughs as a normal business procedure and has not divulged the amount of payment due next month.

The Energy Department secured the loan with Fisker’s equipment and property, and in the event of a bankruptcy by Fisker, it could be put in control of the company

According to the Wall Street Journal which first reported the bankruptcy contingency plan, an Energy Department representative has said it “is committed to the best outcome for taxpayers.”

Previously the Energy Department retained Houlihan Lokey Inc., and investment bank, to track Fisker’s efforts to raise funds.

Fisker in turn had previously used the services of Evercore Partners to help it find potential investors, and it has hired Huron Consulting Group to help with management of daily operations while it negotiates. A Huron employee serves as Fisker’s chief administration officer.

The United States Department of Energy continued to allow luxury plug-in EV builder Fisker to keep tapping its $529 million line of credit even though it repeatedly violated the government's terms.

A new states that Fisker wasn't meeting milestones outlined in its deal with the Department of Energy even though the federal agency was allowing the automaker to access its $529 million credit line. The Energy department cut Fisker off in June of 2011, or about $193 million into its credit line, despite the fact that it had confirmed six months prior that certain deadlines were not being met.

The United States Department of Energy continued to allow luxury plug-in EV builder Fisker to keep tapping its $529 million line of credit even though it repeatedly violated the government's terms.

A new states that Fisker wasn't meeting milestones outlined in its deal with the Department of Energy even though the federal agency was allowing the automaker to access its $529 million credit line. The Energy department cut Fisker off in June of 2011, or about $193 million into its credit line, despite the fact that it had confirmed six months prior that certain deadlines were not being met.

Fisker Automotive Inc. spent more than six times as much U.S. taxpayer and investor money to produce each luxury plug-in car it sold than the company received from customers, according to a research report.

The Anaheim, California-based company made about 2,500 of its $103,000 Karmas before halting production last year, disrupting its plans to use a $529 million U.S. loan to restart a shuttered Delaware factory owned by the predecessor of General Motors Co. (GM) The Karma was assembled in Finland.

Fisker was allowed to keep using money from its Energy Department loan after violating its terms multiple times, according to a report released April 17 by PrivCo, a New York- based researcher specializing in closely held companies. It said it based its report on documents, including the loan agreement, obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

“They made a mistake” in awarding the loan, PrivCo Chief Executive Officer Sam Hamadeh said of the Energy Department in an interview yesterday. “Should they have fought this sooner? Obviously -- as soon as it became evident that they had begun to default.”

PrivCo’s report contains errors, particularly in asserting the Energy Department knew by December 2010 that the carmaker wasn’t meeting milestones required to keep drawing taxpayer funds, Bill Gibbons, a department spokesman, said in an e-mail yesterday. The department cut off Fisker’s funding in June 2011, after the company drew down about $193 million.

“PrivCo’s assertion that Fisker defaulted in December 2010 is simply false,” Gibbons said. “The milestones that PrivCo includes in its report are also wrong. The fact is, the department stopped disbursements on the loan after the company stopped meeting its milestones.”

Fisker has spent $1.3 billion in taxpayer and venture capital money, or $660,000 for each car it sold, the report said.

Fisker stopped manufacturing cars late last year and fired three quarters of its remaining workers April 5. The company’s first repayment of $20.2 million on the Energy Department loan is due April 22, the report said.

The Energy Department, which has had to defend its loan guarantees to failed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC, gave Fisker its loan primarily to acquire and restart production at a closed GM plant in Delaware, the home state of Vice President Joe Biden, who attended the press conference announcing the venture. The company forecast it would create 2,500 jobs, according to a project summary still posted on the Energy Department’s website.

Activity at the Delaware plant stopped last year and no cars have been made there.

Of the cars produced, about 1,600 were purchased by consumers. Another 338 cars were destroyed during November’s Superstorm Sandy while parked at the Port of Newark, New Jersey.

In January 2005, legendary car designer Henrik Fisker founded a company to bring innovative new thinking to the automobile industry.
Between that date and today, Fisker Automotive would create perhaps the most beautiful car ever made, raise almost $1.4 billion dollars from investors as diverse as Leonardo di Caprio and Kleiner Perkins, obtain a $528 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, balloon to 600+ employees, default on loans or investment conditions at least four separate times, spend $535,000 on a website, get sued by its own employees, get evicted from its primary business location, and be investigated by the government — apparently for its incredible ability to burn a billion dollars while delivering only a few thousand actual completed cars.
What a wild, crazy ride it’s been.
“Fisker spent a stunning $900,000 for each vehicle it produced,” PrivCo chief executive Sam Hamadeh told me. “Then they sold them to dealers for an invoice price of just $70,000.”
PrivCo, a research firm focused on non-public companies, has compiled an exhaustive dossier on Fisker, its cash, its commitments, and its massive failure to produce anything like a functional, profitable business. While burning through $1.4 billion dollars, Fisker produced fewer than 2,200 cars, PrivCo data shows, 600 of which remain unsold on dealers’ lots. And 1,200 investors, which include university endowment funds and company pension plans, are learning that their cash has been completely wiped out.
Even worse?
The government was grossly negligent in its issuing of the Fisker loan, Hamadeh maintains, saying that Fisker is the biggest public loss since the infamous Solyndra Solar debacle, which cost the government as much as half billion dollars. Not only did the U.S. Department of Energy apply “negligent underwriting standards” in granting the Fisker loans, it also failed to enforce the loan conditions as Fisker breached the loan terms, PrivCo says. That failure cost the U.S. taxpayer an extra $192.3 million.
That’s bad enough. But sadly, it gets even worse.
Even as Fisker continued private fundraising efforts, when the DOE privately issued a Drawdown Stop Notice to halt payments to the stumbling car company, it failed to warn future investors that Fisker was in default. As PrivCo writes in its report:At the end of the long, sad story, Hamedeh says, Fisker has less than $20 million cash in hand, has stopped paying all creditors, and faces multiple lawsuits.
“Fisker Automotive may well go down as the most tragic venture capital-backed debacle in recent history,” Hamadeh said in a statement. “The sheer scale of investment capital and government loan money — over $1.3 billion in all — was squandered so rapidly and with so little to show for it that the wreckage is breathtaking. Bankruptcy will be the end of Fisker, but for the taxpayers, venture capital firms, individual investors, and Fisker’s suppliers, it will all be too little too late.”

Bob Lutz Says V-8-Powered Karma Plans Are Safe Despite Fisker Woes

By Viknesh Vijayenthiran Viknesh Vijayenthiran
May 6, 2013

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past several months, you have probably heard that Fisker Automotive is in a spot of trouble.

Production of its Karma extended-range electric sedan ceased last year following the bankruptcy of the car’s battery supplier, A123 Systems.

And more recently, the company, seeing an alliance deal as its only chance of survival, lost founder Henrik Fisker along with a majority of its staff.

Fisker hasn’t mentioned bankruptcy yet, though it’s entirely possible given the situation.

So where would that leave fellow startup VL Automotive, whose plan is to sell rebadged Fisker Karmas powered by V-8 engines?

VL Automotive, started by industry icon Bob Lutz and entrepreneur Gilbert Villarreal, showed its first model, the Destino, at January’s 2013 Detroit Auto Show. The Destino is essentially a Karma with some unique styling treatments and its electric drivetrain replaced by a V-8 engine.

Speaking with Ward’s Auto, Lutz said VL won’t be adversely affected by Fisker’s woes. He explained that Fisker’s suppliers could continue to build the Karma’s rolling chassis, though he conceded that there would be some logistic problems.

Fisker didn’t build the Karma itself but outsourced production to independent vehicle manufacturer Valmet of Finland.

Lutz went on to reveal that VL has already received a hundred orders for the Destino, with most of those coming from the Middle East. He also said that some existing Karma owners and even some Fisker dealers have inquired about converting their cars to V-8 power, which Lutz estimated to cost between $85k and $90k. Pricing for a new Destino is expected to start at $185k.

There has been one major change made to the Destino’s specification since its Detroit debut; VL will be using the 556-horsepower LSA V-8 from the Cadillac CTS-V instead of the 638-horsepower LS9 from the Corvette ZR1 as originally announced. It turns out VL couldn’t find a suitable automatic for the LS9. Nevertheless, the slightly less powerful Destino should still meet VL’s original performance claims.

VL is in the process of having its Destino approved for government safety and emissions regulations and plans to start deliveries in the second half of the year.