2012 Fisker Karma on 2040-cars

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Fisker assets will be auctioned tomorrow, here's the situation today

The remains of Fisker Automotive - which might not even include the name and logo - are supposed to finally be sold off tomorrow, but the scene before the auction is anything but clear. As as reminder, the two bidding parties are Wanxiang and Hybrid Tech Holdings. Hybrid Tech was denied an emergency motion in court last week that would have lifted an earlier ruling that limited how much debt it can use to try and buy Fisker. The limit remains at $25 million. Bloomberg says that the winner's spoils are not so much the cars or the design but the 36 patents involved (about half are pending) as well as an established vehicle brand in both the US and China. The chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association, Steven Szakaly, told Bloomberg that, "[the auction is] not about the manufacturing, It's about the intellectual property." The patents include things like the electric drivetrain tech, the solar technology and the design of the mustache grille. Fisker executives have been hit with a $20-million lawsuit that claims they misled investors. And because lawsuits are easier to get than a DOE loan, a number of Fisker executives and the company's legal team have been hit with a $20-million lawsuit that claims Fisker misled investors. The Wall Street Journal reports that Fisker is accused of withholding information that would have given a clearer picture of Fisker's financial situation. According to the WSJ, the lawsuit says the Fisker team kept the negative news quiet, "because they needed huge sums of additional cash to fund Fisker Automotive to position the Company for a sale or an initial public offering...without plaintiffs' and other investors' money, Fisker Automotive was not a viable company." Meanwhile, Hybrid Tech Holding has hired a former Ford executive, Martin Leach, to be better prepared to manage the Fisker assets should Hybrid Tech win tomorrow. Leach told Reuters that he has been working on a business plan "for months," and it starts with the company taking care of current Karma owners and re-engaging suppliers. The most difficult challenge, we imagine, will be with A123 Systems, which supplied the Karma's batteries but was bought by Wanxiang over a year ago. Leach said that Hybrid could get new batteries from Boston Power. Featured Gallery Fisker Atlantic News Source: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, AP Green Fisker Electric Hybrid PHEV lawsuit fisker atlantic martin leach

Karma Automotive holding another hiring fair

Tesla Motors has already started putting out calls for the thousands of workers it will need at its massive Gigafactory outside of Reno, Nevada. Now, Fisker Karma Automotive is doing the same for its not-as-massive plant being built in the state next door. To a smaller extent, of course. Karma, which used to make the high-end Karma extended-range plug-in when it was still Fisker, is planning a job fair for prospective workers in Southern California's Inland Empire east of Los Angeles, according to local paper the Press-Enterprise. Specifically, Karma's job fair will take place October 10 in Moreno Valley. The company will pay as much as $26 an hour to fill its positions, and the automaker needs everything from welders to painters to fabricators, oh my. This isn't Karma's first job fair this year. This summer, the company did the same in an effort to hire about three-dozen people. The automaker didn't specify how many people it was looking hire this time out. Moreno Valley, which is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, is where Karma is building a 556,000-square-foot factory in its return to action after about three years being out of business. The company, which is now based in Costa Mesa, CA, has said it was looking to bring in about 150 for its new factory. Fisker went bankrupt in 2013 after building about 2,600 of its Karma PHEVs. China-based Wanxiang bought Fisker out of bankruptcy early last year for $149.2 million. There were rumors that the company would rename the Karma vehicle the Elux, but there is no mention of that name on the new Karma Automotive website. Featured Gallery 2012 Fisker Karma: Second Drive View 30 Photos News Source: Press-Enterprise Green Plants/Manufacturing Fisker California plant extended-range plug-in karma automotive

Fisker Project Ronin EV sedan previewed ahead of 2024 launch

Fisker's lineup of to-be-launched cars has grown again. Shortly after it announced an urban EV codenamed PEAR, the company released a sketch that shows an electric sedan called Project Ronin which will be positioned at the top of its range when it (hopefully) enters production in 2024. "The aim is to achieve the world's longest range for a production EV, combined with extremely high levels of performance. Project Ronin will be a showcase for our internal engineering, powertrain, and software capabilities," explained company boss Henrik Fisker in a statement. He stopped short of providing specific figures, but the company explained that Project Ronin — which borrows its name from a 1998 movie famous for its car chases — will be capable of carrying four adults and their luggage. Under development since 2021, the model seemingly takes the form of a low-slung car with four doors, though we're told it will feature "unique doors." The sedan will be built with lightweight materials, it will use active aerodynamic technologies, and it will be powered by a battery that will be integrated into the vehicle structure. Fisker expects to unveil Project Ronin in August 2023, and production is tentatively scheduled to begin in the second half of 2024. If everything goes according to plan, the sedan will become the third member of the Fisker range when it starts rolling off the production line. Fisker's first car should be the Ocean, an electric crossover that should enter production in Austria before the end of 2022. It will be followed by the aforementioned PEAR, which will be built in Ohio with help from Taiwan-based software giant Foxconn starting in 2024. Green Fisker Coupe Electric Future Vehicles