Fisker Spent $660,000 On Each $103,000 Karma Sold

Fisker Automotive Inc. spent more than six times as much U.S. taxpayer and investor money to produce each luxury plug-in car it sold than the company received from customers, according to a research report.

The Anaheim, California-based company made about 2,500 of its $103,000 Karmas before halting production last year, disrupting its plans to use a $529 million U.S. loan to restart a shuttered Delaware factory owned by the predecessor of General Motors Co. (GM) The Karma was assembled in Finland.

Fisker was allowed to keep using money from its Energy Department loan after violating its terms multiple times, according to a report released April 17 by PrivCo, a New York- based researcher specializing in closely held companies. It said it based its report on documents, including the loan agreement, obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

“They made a mistake” in awarding the loan, PrivCo Chief Executive Officer Sam Hamadeh said of the Energy Department in an interview yesterday. “Should they have fought this sooner? Obviously -- as soon as it became evident that they had begun to default.”

MorePower - 4/22/2013 6:20:23 PM

+1 Boost

What's your point?

McLaren, MB and Porsche all sold cars that cost over $1 million dollars to manufacturer but were forced to sell the cars at a loss to meet FIA homologation rules.

Fisker, from a financial standpoint, was a failure due to host of reasons and there are many companies and industries that waste U.S. taxpayer money.

vdiv - 4/22/2013 10:55:35 PM

+1 Boost

They also got slammed with bad luck, piled on top of bad decisions, lack of their own technological IP, and ran out of time.