Fisker Automotive has shown off its US$100,000-plus Karma luxury electric car less than a month after the start-up company reduced sales projections for its maiden vehicle and last week suspended work at its Delaware plant, a former General Motors factory.
The company, founded by former Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker in 2007, needs the car, which has come up against its share of teething problems from a recall to software glitches, to sell well.
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“Our survival is not dependent on the DOE,” Fisker told Reuters. “We have already looked into alternative financing and we have really good possibilities,” he said without elaborating.
“We don’t want to put ourselves into a position where we’re at the mercy of the DOE.”
Fisker, which has never made a profit, received US$193m of a federal loan to support the rollout of the $102,000 plug-in hybrid sportscar. The $336m laon balance is intended to fund development of a sedan known as the Nina that will be sold at a lower price.
But last week, Fisker said it had suspended work in Delaware and laid off 26 workers while it renegotiates terms of the loan.
Fisker said the company – wary of over-aggressive targets after missing Karma production and sales targets – was discussing more realistic milestones.
A DOE spokesman had also cited delays in getting the Karma to market as a factor, Reuters noted. The automaker had missed several launch dates before handing its first Karma over to actor Leonardo di Caprio, who is also a Fisker investor, in July.
Nonetheless, Fisker continues to make about 25 Karmas a day, with about 1,500 made so far and about 400 to 500 delivered to European and American buyers, the CEO said.
It displayed the Karma at London tourist magnet, the prestigous Harrods department store, last month.
In addition to the federal loan, Fisker has raised more than $850m from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Advanced Equities and Qatar Investment Authority. Hewlett Packard chairman Ray Lane is a managing partner at Kleiner Perkins and a Fisker board member and investor, Reuters noted.
But Fisker needs its Karma to go down well with its target clientele to sustain its cash flow.
On Monday, it let reporters get behind the wheel of about a half-dozen Karma sedans and cruise about 70 miles up into the sun-drenched Malibu mountains and back.
In January Fisker stopped sales for four days to fix a software malfunction that at times triggered warning lights while temporarily freezing navigation systems and, in December, it recalled 239 Karmas due to a possible defect in batteries made by supplier A123 Systems that could cause a coolant fluid leak and electrical short circuit. The previous month, A123 reduced its full-year revenue outlook after Fisker unexpectedly cut orders.
Fisker had aimed to begin production of the Nina in 2013, though the company plans to divulge a more exact timeline only once it restarts work at the Delaware plant, Reuters added.
Fisker hopes to attract the wealthy yet environmentally conscious buyer with details like what it calls a no-animal interior – no leather anywhere – and wood salvaged from California forest fires and from the bottom of Lake Michigan.
“It makes a big difference to have a car on the road,” the CEO told the news agency, suggesting the DOE’s investment has borne fruit.
“It’s about creating something that no other brand will do. We did all that to make a statement that we’re different,” Henrik Fisker told Reuters. “And we’re going to be radical from now on.”
