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Five years after showing us the sexiest plug-in we'd ever seen, Fisker Automotive is in the process of packing up and switching off the lights. The California startup, founded by the man who penned the gorgeous BMW Z8 and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, is the only automaker to base its entire business on luxurious plug-in hybrids. But not for long. Founder and former chairman Henrik Fisker quit in March, a month before the company fired three-quarters of its staff and began preparing for bankruptcy. Navigating an unfortunate string of events—including damaged cars from Superstorm Sandy, two major recalls, and its battery supplier going bankrupt—is a company that's been in financial trouble for the past two-and-a-half years. There are no buyers. At least $192 million in taxpayer money may never be repaid. And after a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Fisker's fate as the next Tucker is pretty much sealed.
When Justin Bieber grabbed a chromed-out Karma last year, we figured Fisker had nailed the rich West Coast demographic that proved so critical for Tesla Motors. Despite the aforementioned series of unfortunate events, the first Karmas started rolling out of Fisker's Finnish factory in December 2011. But ultimately, Fisker would only sell 2000 cars before production ground to a halt in August 2012. Fisker had planned to produce a second offering, the Atlantic, at a gutted GM factory in Delaware—which Vice President Joe Biden promised would create 2500 jobs—but it never opened. We're not against the government loaning our money to companies building expensive technology that eventually will trickle down to the mainstream. Ford and Nissan together have borrowed $7.3 billion from the same loan program to build alternative-fuel vehicles in the U.S., and if we're to believe recent accounts, Tesla may record its first-ever profit this year. What we are against, however, is unchecked government spending, and as it stands, the Department of Energy hasn't explained why it continued funding Fisker for at least an additional year despite knowing the automaker was having trouble meeting its loan requirements. As to what extent "crony" political connections played in awarding Fisker's $528 million loan in the first place, well, that's the nature of our government and every big American business. No matter what executives say, we'll bet Fisker stuck a few feet in the door for that kind of money.
But there's a bigger problem when a company can rake in $1.2 billion in private funding and miss a $10 million loan payment, or when the White House promises jobs and a whole community is left hanging. We'd have wanted Fisker to succeed and feed us more eye-popping designs. Instead, we're footing its losses because a few people didn't bother to check the bank account. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com | |||
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Friday, April 26, 2013
Despite Warning Signs, Fed Kept Money Flowing to Fisker
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