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Wanxiang wins bid for Fisker at $149.2 million

Fisker Automotive has been sold, ladies and gentlemen. According to Automotive News, Wanxiang from China won the company after a few tense days of bidding between it and Hybrid Tech Holdings from Hong Kong. The winning bid came in at $149.2 million, which, rather interestingly, is almost six times the amount Fisker itself sought to recover from bankruptcy. That bid includes $126.2 million in cash and $8 million in assumed liabilities, and it came after 19 rounds between Wanxiang and Hybrid Tech. Wanxiang also owns the company that supplies batteries, or at least would supply them if and when the Karma goes back on sale. While all this seems pretty official, it still needs to be approved by US Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross, who has scheduled a hearing on Feb. 18 in Wilmington, Del. Featured Gallery 2012 Fisker Karma: First Drive View 23 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Government/Legal Green Fisker Electric Hybrid wanxiang

New Fisker Karma spare parts coming soon

It's easy to fall in love with the Fisker Karma based on looks alone. Figure in the luxury interior, electric drivetrain, and the convenience of the extended range, and it's hard to fault anyone who took the plunge and plunked down their hard-earned dollars for this swank green machine. Things go wrong, sure, as they do with any vehicle, but when the company goes bankrupt and you can't get the parts to get your car running again, let's just hope you really like the way it looks in your garage. Fisker's new owner, Wanxiang, has some welcome news. "The Fisker team is settling and still negotiating with over 300 suppliers," says Linyun Frank Qi, Fisker Coordinator at Wanxiang America, in a note to the Fisker Owners Club. "Most of them are good to go now which means we will soon have access to all the parts and also means you will soon have access to them too." Qi says he had an accident of his own in the company show car, which is still in the shop, so he can empathize with other Karma drivers. Wanxiang, a highly profitable auto parts company, bought Fisker earlier this year, along with its battery supplier A123 Systems. The company says it has grown the Fisker team from 20 to 80 people in recent months. The news that parts will soon be available could also be evidence that Fisker is closer to beginning production of the Karma again. Fisker bought an old GM plant in Delaware as part of the deal to purchase the company, and has said that there is a "50-50" chance of building cars in the state. It also wants to build a second model beginning in 2017.

Fisker could be renamed when production restarts in 2015

The Orange County Register has an update on Wanxiang's plans for Fisker, and it starts with the idea that you would see brand new Karmas back on the road in mid-2015. From there the goals get less certain, the OCR saying the Surf station wagon "could ship in 2016" and the mid-priced Atlantic "might come in 2017." The targets came from an interview with interim CEO Roger Brown as he laid out how fluid the present situation is. The primary certainty, according to Brown, is that new owner Wanxiang is determined to execute on its vision and "build a great car company." The puzzle pieces that make that picture are still being assembled – even the name of the post-bankruptcy company, Fisker Automotive for now, is being debated. No matter what the name will be, Wanxiang and Brown need to establish the blood and bones of a company that can provide what the original Fisker Automotive didn't. Brown said they're looking for a permanent CEO over the next three months, they need to settle on a location for headquarters and increase the staff from the current 25 to the 200 or so necessary to engineering a fully fleshed-out Karma and successive products, and figure out where cars are going to be built. Concerning workers, Brown revealed that, "We've been flooded with people that want to come back." As for manufacturing in the Delaware plant that Fisker Automotive still controls or somewhere else, we've heard there are even odds on US production, but the final answer will probably be delivered by the new CEO.