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Wanxiang officially acquires Fisker Delaware plant for $18 million

Perhaps Wanxiang is serious about finally, actually re-starting plug-in hybird Fisker production. One of the first big official steps that The New Fisker has taken, other than putting up a new website, is to buy that old disparaged General Motors plant new Newport, DE for $18 million. Technically, the Delaware plant was included in the Fisker Automotive assets that Wanxiang America won at a bankruptcy auction for $149.2 million last month. What happened last week, according to Delaware Online, is that the plant property was officially transferred to a Wanxiang America affiliate, WX Delaware Real Estate Holding Co. The cost was broken out for the first time and it comes to, you guessed it, $18 million. In a bygone age, Fisker said it could make up to 100,000 Karma electric vehicles a year at the Delaware plant. The California automaker officially bought the plant from "old GM" in late 2009, but never did anything with it, despite Vice President Joe Biden's enthusiastic appearance at the announcement in 2009 (pictured). Five years and one bankruptcy later, we are are curious as ever to see if either the Karma or the Atlantic ever actually rolls off the assembly line there. Of course, the next big step will be to build an assembly line. Related Gallery Fisker Atlantic News Source: Delaware OnlineImage Credit: Rob Carr / AP Green Plants/Manufacturing Fisker Electric Hybrid PHEV wanxiang fisker atlantic delaware fisker production

Fisker teases $40,000 electric crossover with 300 miles of range

Henrik Fisker has been at the drawing board for some time, and we've enjoyed following along. We don't know what to do with this latest one, though, because we know almost nothing about it. Fisker, Inc., Henrik's electric vehicle company, promised "a teaser picture and some tech details" on a new EV priced "close" to $40,000. We have the teaser pic, but the tech details are mostly the same EV future-tech buzz every non-traditional player loads up on. It is a crossover, it looks like a Fisker, and it has a front-mounted radar unit behind glass. Those are the exterior concretes. As for the rest of the look, it's "Dramatically sculpted" with "futuristic, elegant muscular look" and there are "captivating design touches that have been traditionally reserved for supercars," By pressing a button, the roof opens in some way to create "an extended open-air atmosphere." An "enhanced +80 KWh lithium-ion battery pack" will provide power, not the solid-state batteries we know Fisker's working on and thought would make their first appearance here. The EMotion sedan will debut the solid-state units. Sounds like the standard version will use a single electric motor, but optional all-wheel drive puts another motor on the front axle. An optional wheel spans 22 inches, but we don't know what size the stock rims are. There's a luxurious, "vastly spacious interior" with "a modern aesthetic and high-quality materials." A "large heads-up display and unique, intuitive user interface... will control some of the latest emerging in-vehicle technologies." All of which could mean anything, so ends up meaning practically nothing. Closer to firm ground, this will be the first of three affordable EV models coming in well below the $129,000 EMotion flagship electric sedan. Fisker, Inc. says the crossover's price will come in below $40,000. The target range is 300 miles when this as-yet-unnamed SUV goes on sale in the second half of 2021. That's a long way off to be shooting for 300 miles. Come 2.5 years, 300 miles could be the baseline distance to be taken seriously. The Tesla Model Y is already there and the Germans are loading their EV cannons with compact offerings right now, led by Volkswagen's ID onslaught. Fisker won't open dealerships, planning to sell direct to consumers and service owners with a "nationwide concierge service model." More details to come, hopefully ones with more specific detailing. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party.

Got a Fisker Karma? Hack it for more driving options

We've already touched upon the ability to hack into the software of the BMW i3 battery-electric vehicle in order to change some of the preset driving modes. One of the issues there, though, was the risk of voiding the car's warranty. If you were do something similar to a Fisker Karma extended-range plug-in, the warranty thing probably won't come into play since the company went broke and is now, slowly being reborn. The hacking-inclined can access four new driving modes for the Karma, according to the Fisker community site Fisker Buzz. There's "EV mode" that simply depletes the battery regardless of how much fuel is in the range extender. "Sport mode" runs the battery at full power up until 60 percent state of charge (SOC). "Stealth mode" will hold any SOC and ER will increase the SOC to 90 percent full. If you'd like to watch blurry cell phone videos rather than read, there's an incredibly short YouTube clip above that apparently shows the driver accessing those additional drive modes. Poster PowerSource says that the new modes are turned on with a simple plug-in module: The enhancement will not modify any of the existing OEM software in the vehicle. Our solution is plug and play hardware that adds functionality. To put the vehicle back to stock you simply unplug the module, to add the functionality you simply plug in the module. Fisker does not have the capability to overwrite our software since its on our physical module. Fisker is in the process of rising from its bankrupt-induced ashes. The company went belly up in 2013, the year after it stopped making the last of its approximately 2,600 high-end Karmas. Last year, China-based Wanxiang bought out the company's assets for a tidy $149.2 million. And this year, the company is operating offices in Orange, County, CA, and is in the process of building a factory in Moreno Valley, CA, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Its new model will look a lot like the Karma but will be called the Elux. We're not sure how many drive modes it will have. Related Gallery 2012 Fisker Karma: Second Drive View 30 Photos News Source: Fisker Buzz Green Fisker Electric hacking software karma