Currently reading: Fisker lays off staff as electric car company teeters on the brink

Fisker, the California-based manufacturer of plug-in hybrid cars, looks close to folding — according to reports from the US

Fisker, the electric car maker based in Anaheim, California, laid off a significant number of staff this morning, including the PR team, sources have told Autocar.

Reports last week revealed that Fisker had hired a law firm, which many commentators suggested was a lead-in to filing for bankruptcy. Production of Fisker’s £65,000 Karma model – which is made by Valmet in Finland - was suspended last July.

US sources say that Fisker was also due to start making capital repayments on a government loan at the end of this month. Fisker was offered up to £350m in loans by the Obama administration, but payments were suspended in May 2012 after Fisker had drawn down around £131m. The company claimed to have delivered nearly 1800 Karmas by the end of 2012.

The company spent much of last year looking for new sources of investment, but has also been hit by a number of blows, some beyond its control. A number of early production Fiskers had to be recalled and repaired. A123 Systems, the company’s battery supplier also folded in 2012.

In October 2012 an estimated 300 Karmas were destroyed when Hurricane Sandy flooded the dockside at Port Newark in New Jersey. Last month, founder Henrik Fisker resigned from the company.

The Fisker company began life in 2007 and was founded by ex-Aston and BMW stylist Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler. The Karma saloon was first shown in 2009 but it was not until autumn 2011 that it went on sale.

Work on the Fisker Atlantic sports hatch version of the Karma, and on Project Nina (a 5-series-size car that was to have been built in the US), was also suspended last year.

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michael knight 6 April 2013

Survival of the fittest

Judged on the product alone the Tesla Model S runs rings around the Fisker. I saw a production model at the Paris show last year and the panel-gaps were embarassing, and the interior 'quirky' to say the least. They have a place in the electric car development but sadly it will be a footnote rather than a headline.

DBtechnician 6 April 2013

It's not Rocket Science

Sadly a lot of these projects that offer more environmentally motoring are suffering a lack of investment down to the fact that most of the governments around the world are in the control of the banking cartels who don't want people using less oil.

They have too much invested in oil companies and don't care how many people die in the wars in the middle east over oil.

Here in the UK we have a developer called Trevor Jackson who owns a company called Metalectrique,he was a former Navy Submariner Nuclear Engineer who has developed an Aluminium Fuel Cell which can take a car ten times further than lithium ion cells which also ticks all the governments environmental targets because it is very clean but no support from government- Go figure.

For those who are interested in it have a look at the video about it on ukcolumn.org

Maxecat 6 April 2013

DBtechnician wrote:  the

DBtechnician wrote:

 the fact that most of the governments around the world are in the control of the banking cartels who don't want people using less oil.

They have too much invested in oil companies and don't care how many people die in the wars in the middle east over oil.

 an Aluminium Fuel Cell which can take a car ten times further than lithium ion cells which also ticks all the governments environmental targets because it is very clean but no support from government.

And are you still concerned that a conspiracy killed J F Kennedy and Princess Diana?

Have you been missing out your tablets again?

DBtechnician 7 April 2013

Tablets

Thanks for reminding me to take my tablets.

Shame you can't get some to cure you from driving around in a Honda Civic.

fadyady 7 April 2013

EV breakthrough?

DBtechnician wrote:

Here in the UK we have a developer called Trevor Jackson who owns a company called Metalectrique... For those who are interested in it have a look at the video about it on ukcolumn.org

I'm a very non-technical person. All I know about cars is how to drive them. But I checked out Trevor Jackson's interview on ukcolumn.org. It would be very interesting if he could make it work.

DBtechnician 7 April 2013

Makes an interesting proposition

@ Fadyady, Thankyou,  Worth investigating at least I think and it would be good if at least some of this magazines journalists looked into this sort of thing and reported their findings, a lot of motor journalists just come across as PR guys for the motor companys.

 

MikeSpencer 6 April 2013

Bad news for Fisker

Bad news for everyone concerned - investors, creditors, staff, taxpayers, owners etc. Such a shame to see a clever design like this not succeed. Contrary to previous comments, I'd always considered range extenders to be the most elegant solution to electric vehicles. In my view they're the scientists' and engineers' choice. Pure EVs? One for the marketeers, I feel.