Fisker Automotive
Fisker Automotive was an American company. It produced the Fisker Karma, which was one of the world's first production luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The company was founded in 2007 by Henrik Fisker, a Danish automobile designer.
| Company type | Private corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive Luxury plug-in hybrid cars |
| Founded | August 2007 (as Fisker Automotive) Anaheim, California, U.S. |
| Founders | Henrik Fisker Bernhard Koehler |
| Defunct | 2014 |
| Fate | Declared bankruptcy in November 2013; assets bought by Wanxiang in February 2014 as foundation of Karma Automotive; Henrik Fisker subsequently founded Fisker Inc in 2016. |
| Successor | Karma Automotive Fisker Inc. |
| Headquarters | Anaheim, California, U.S. |
Key people | Tony Posawatz (CEO) Bernhard Koehler (COO) |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 53 (March 2013) |
The company received significant private and public investment, including a $529 million loan from the federal government. The company raised over $1 billion from private investors such as the Kleiner Perkins venture capital firm.
However, it repeatedly missed production deadlines and production of the Fisker Karma was suspended in November 2012 with about 2,450 Karmas built since 2011 and just over 2,000 cars sold worldwide. The New York Times described the company as the "Solyndra of the electric car industry" and a "debacle". The company's federal loan was suspended in 2011; the government recovered some of the invested funds, but nevertheless took a $139 million loss.
In February 2014, Fisker Automotive's Karma vehicle design, tooling and a manufacturing facility in Delaware were purchased by Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group. In 2016, Wanxiang would rename the holding company for the assets of Fisker Automotive to Karma Automotive.