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$529M DOE Loan Spawns $97K Made-in-Finland Cars

Posted by Soulskill on from the mission-accomplished dept.

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."

5 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. The DOE loan is for the Nina by rednip · · Score: 4, Informative

    The DOE loan is for the Nina, it'll be built in An shutdown Saturn plant in Delaware. Not the Karma.

    --
    The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
    1. Re:The DOE loan is for the Nina by lwriemen · · Score: 4, Informative

      Two companies doesn't equal two cars. FTA: "Between them, Fisker, at $529 million, and Tesla, at $465 million, have secured nearly $1 billion to jump-start production of their cars." Fisker and Tesla are two separate companies.

    2. Re:The DOE loan is for the Nina by mtrachtenberg · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, the DOE loan is for the Delaware plant. This fact is well-known: http://www.examiner.com/electric-car-in-national/fisker-automotive-grabs-529-million-from-the-doe

      And that omission, soulskill, is either incompetent or dishonest.

  2. Re:Great by JBMcB · · Score: 4, Informative

    This isn't even the dumbest use of our money. We currently subsidize cotton farmers in Brazil, because the US was subsidizing cotton farmers in the southern states, and was found to be doing so in violation of free trade agreements by the WTO. So instead of cutting the subsidies to the US farmers, the US government also subsidizes Brazilian cotton farmers as a sort of pay-off. This isn't a small amount of money - it's in the billions every year.

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    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  3. Re:Sincerity? by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are factories in the US building small volume high quality sports cars, Viper, Corvette, CTS, CTS-V (coupe, sports wagon, sedan), BMW, Audi, plus lower volume companies and aftermarket makers like Panoz

    The Boxster and Cayman production was moved back to Germany this year.

    "Boxster and Cayman production was outsourced to Valmet Automotive in Finland from 1997 to 2011, after which when assembly was moved back to the German homeland."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche#Production_and_sales
    http://www.valmet-automotive.com/automotive/bulletin.nsf/headlinespubliceng/ADB15534224D1B0CC225788400418888

    Fisker got the loan with the promise they'd use the factory in Delaware, if they aren't using it, they need to return the money.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Automotive#US_federal_loan