Fisker's Chinese owner says we should "truly believe" it can send all of the old company's concept cars to production alongside the Karma, according to statements on its new website thenewfisker.com.
The old website, fiskerautomotive.com, is still online but has been largely useless since the plug-in hybrid automaker killed production in 2012, fired three-quarters of its California-based staff last April, and went bankrupt in November. Wanxiang America Corp., a division of China's largest auto-parts supplier, bought the remains of Fisker Automotive in February for $149.2 million.
The three Karma derivatives floating around since 2009—the Surf wagon, the Sunset convertible, and the smaller Atlantic sedan—will be launched sometime "in the future." Last month, Wanxiang also promised to build the VL Destino, the non-hybridized, Corvette-powered Karma envisioned by Bob Lutz, and projected it would crank out 1500 Karmas in the next 18 months. But there's no confirmed production site or start date.
Wanxiang says it's unsure if it should reopen the Karma production contract with Valmet in Finland. It's similarly undecided over the former General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware, that was supposed to build the Atlantic and was included in the bankruptcy sale. It also must contend with creditors, a lack of employees, and attempting to scrape whatever loyalty is left from Fisker's current customers. Due to the bankruptcy sale, Wanxiang said Karma owners—who once paid more than $100,000 each for a Karma—can only submit up to $2000 in warranty claims for their cars, to say nothing of parts availability or servicing. When the $400,000 pot runs dry, that's it.
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"We understand if you are an owner and paid good money for your vehicle, $2000 is not what you bargained for or expected," the company said. "We are already hard at work discussing ways that we can make this a better experience for all current Fisker owners and hope to bring better news to each owner in the near future."
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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