Which Is To Blame For Fisker's Demise - The Treasury Or Management?

The fact that Fisker dismissed last week 75% of its workers, fuelled political criticism regarding the U.S. government’s loans offered through the clean-energy programs.

Last year Fisker’s battery supplier, A123 Systems, which also received $249.1 million federal grant, sold its assets to a Chinese company. Now Fisker, which received a $529 million in U.S. loan, has cut 75% of its workforce after it failed to find a partner to fund its operations. This news is only reviving criticism and concerns regarding the government’s loans offered through the clean-energy programs.



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atc98092 - 4/8/2013 9:03:16 PM

+2 Boost

When will these news stories ever get anything accurate? Fisker did NOT receive $529 Million. They were approved for that much, but had only drawn $169 Million before being cut off. Granted, that's still a whole lot of bucks, and I personally never thought much of the car itself.

I'm certainly no greenie, but I think government investment in various potential replacements for petroleum could be worthwhile, but only after careful evaluation and with constant oversight.

Agent009 - 4/9/2013 10:43:11 AM

+2 Boost

The problem is two fold:

The fed opened up easy money (too easy) on the promise of more to come.

Then after a rash of criticism they shut off the flow of cash.

Now you have an immature system in place that needs the cash to move forward and no funds.

A123 the battery maker goes under and now the companies that relied on them start to fall.

atc98092 - 4/9/2013 7:03:59 PM

+2 Boost

No disagreement there. The money comes too easy at the beginning.

I know you just copied the initial paragraph from another source, but I did a quick search and most of the articles I could find cite the same error about how much money they actually collected from the government. Some bury the actual amount deeper in the story, but most just ignore it. I just wish they would meet a basic level of accurate reporting. Sigh...

vdiv - 4/9/2013 2:51:10 PM

+1 Boost

Tell that to the General Dynamics, Mitre, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Orbital, Raytheon, CACI, and the rest of the defense contractors and see how hard they laugh.

mrcassis - 4/9/2013 7:11:26 PM

0 Boost

Who to blame??!?!?!?! Cmon folks, this is Autospies...the Fox of car sites. BLAME OBAMA!!!! Whenever in doubt, thats what we always turn to. BLAME OBAMA!!!!