Report: Fisker Karma sedan delayed… again
Despite the award of $529 million in governemnt loans, Fisker Automotive Inc. will not meet the timetable announced last fall in delivering its first electric vehicles. The Energy Department had said in announcing its low-cost loans back in September, that Fisker would have its $88,000 plug-in sports car, the Karma, in showrooms this summer.
It won’t.
Company spokesman Russell Datz has said that the first few customers will receive their vehicles by year’s end, with full production commencing in the first three months of 2011. Technical issues however, are not to blame says Datz, who says that funding from private equity markets lies at teh heart of this problem.
Last month, the company was able to secure $35 million from provate equity to complete a new round of funding for the Karma, which is to be assembeled in Finland. Using part of the federal loan money, Fisker plans to build between 75,000 and 100,000 cars in Wilmington, De. starting in 2012.
Click here for more news on the Fisker Karma.
Refresher: Power comes from Fisker”s Q-DRIVE system, which is made up of two 201-hp electric motors that are powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. That allows the 2010 Karma to travel up to 50 miles without the use of any gasoline. A generator attached to a 260-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter Ecotec direct injection gasoline engine by General Motors provides an extended range of up to 300 miles. 0 to 60 mph comes in 5.8 seconds with a top speed of 125 mph.
– By: Stephen Calogera
Source: Detroit News
