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$529M DOE Loan Spawns $97K Made-in-Finland Cars
theodp writes "With PR successes like the Fisker Karma, does the Department of Energy need to worry about PR failures like Solyndra? ABC News and others are reporting that electric car company Fisker, which received a $529M federal loan guarantee with the approval of the Obama administration, is assembling its first line of $96,985 base-priced hybrid cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work. According to Green Car Reports, Fisker said the EPA had rated the Karma at 54 MPGe (MPG-equivalent) when running on electricity from its battery pack, and that the EPA-rated electric range would be 32 miles. Omitted from the press release was the 20-mpg rating for a Karma running on power from its range-extending gasoline engine."
There's very few Illiterate people in Finland, the education system is top notch. Also, corruption is very low.
Maybe they plan forward. When enraged crowds torch all of the US they'll still have their plant in a stable enviroment.
The DOE loan is for the Nina
No. Taxpayer money was put at risk for the benefit of a company in Finland. If the product and the company were plainly viable, there would be far more than the half billion dollars in US tax money racing to them from private investors all over the world.
This is an Obama administration fashion statement for rich lefties, and an ass-kiss aimed at socialist Scandinavia so they'll say one or two less sneering things about the US once in a while. The car is more or less pointless, the price tag is absurd, the impact on the economy is inconsequential, but the overall pattern is very telling.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.