$529M Gov't Loan To Develop $89,000 Hybrid Sports Car

theodp writes "The WSJ reports that a tiny car company backed by former VP Al Gore has just gotten a $529M US government loan to help build an $89,000 hybrid sports car in Finland. The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive follows an earlier $465M government loan to Tesla Motors, purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Fisker's other investors (PDF) include the Al Gharaffa Investment Co., a Cayman Islands corporation."

Comments

Fruits of a corrupt government

[MSTCrow5429]

Thank god for welfare and patronage! How else could I pay for a boutique sports car that I will probably never be able to afford?

Re:The summary reeks of an agenda

[tinrobot]

Actually, a few hundred million is chump change. Republicans already gave themselves several trillion dollars.

It's called George Bush's Iraq War and his administration's bailout of Wall Street late last year.

Money spent on saving the planet is money well spent.

Clearly, you don't have a clue about Socialism

[denzacar]

Had it been socialism that was voted in, there would have been no government loan at all.
Instead, the now nationalized GM would spend that money churning out bicycles. And you would be explained in detail why is that better and healthier than a car.
Flag waiving, national anthem singing and generally reaching out to your patriotic spirit would probably be included - but that is the tool any government uses.
You know... Like those little lapel flag-pins, or pledging "allegiance to the flag...", or playing the national anthem at local sports events (which don't include foreign teams)...

Had the people voted in totalitarianism - you would be punished for using anything BUT the government provided bicycle.

 
This situation is actually just plain old capitalism. Only with some actual sense included.
See... They get a $529 mill. LOAN to produce expensive cars at $89,000 a pop - and they have already pre-sold 1500 of those.
Seems to me like they already have the quarter of that loan paid off.

Also... note how I said "expensive cars" at $89,000, while the Tesla Roadster costs about $109,000 according to TFA.
That is because of this part:

Matt Rogers, who oversees the department's loan programs as a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, said Fisker was awarded the loan after a "detailed technical review" that concluded the company could eventually deliver a highly fuel-efficient hybrid car to a mass audience. Fisker said most of its DOE loan will be used to finance U.S. production of a $40,000 family sedan that has yet to be designed.

The money is there to actually build a family car.
Sure. Part of it will go towards production of the more expensive variant - because that sells better. So the loan could be repaid sooner without interfering with the creation of the family version of the car.
So everyone would make more money. You know... like in capitalism.

Oh... And as the article obviously wants to point out how THIS is money thrown away at expensive cars:

The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. [$529 million U.S. government loan ] follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster.

Fisker's government loans will come from a $25 billion program established by Congress in 2007 to help auto makers invest in the technology to meet a new congressional mandate to improve fuel efficiency. In June, the DOE awarded the first $8 billion from the program to Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., and Tesla, which are all developing electric cars.

Soo... there is this 8 billion dollars pile of money...
From which Tesla got $0.465 bill.
Fisker got $0.529 bill.

How much did that leave for Ford and Nissan?