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WSJ Fisker story Posted by saabsince 93b [Email]  (#972)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from saabsince 93b) on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:32:43
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The WALL STREET JOURNAL has an interesting story on Fisker http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/04/09/house-republicans-plan-a-hearing-on-fisker/
and another from a coupple of days ago intersting reading
April 5, 2013, 2:17 PM
What’s Worth Buying at Fisker?
By Tom Gara
Fisker Automotive
The prototype Fisker Atlantic sedan
It’s not looking good at electric car maker Fisker Automotive: the company is laying off 150 of its 200 staff, reports the WSJ’s Yuliya Chernova:
The Anaheim, Calif., designer of a $100,000 sports car, furloughed 200 U.S. workers in March for a week to conserve cash, while continuing a long-running effort to seek buyers or investors that would help it resume vehicle production that was halted last July. Some of the staff that were furloughed and brought back in March are now being dismissed.
While others including China’s Dongfeng were once considering buying out the company, the last time the WSJ looked into the talks, it seemed they had fallen apart.
Fisker makes for a tricky acquisition. It doesn’t make its own batteries, instead buying them from the bankrupt battery maker A123, which was recently taken over by China’s Wanxiang (parts of the company were renamed B456 in history’s least creative rebranding exercise). Production of the Fisker Karma sports car was suspended when A123 closed down.
Its cars haven’t been selling particularly fast, and while Tesla used the momentum from its high-performance roadster to roll out a luxury sedan (and soon, a high-end SUV), Fisker is still stuck on its first, niche, model. While it released prototypes for the new Fisker Atlantic sedan last April, it said later in the year that production might not begin until 2015. After today’s firings, even that looks optimistic.
So what would you buy Fisker for? There’s the designs and the knowledge, although most big car companies have already moved well along in their own electric vehicle programs. For smaller players trying to get into the market, the fact the company has a model that has already run through the full regulatory/testing gauntlet and made it onto American roads is a big deal.
Fisker also has access to a large ($337 million) amount of loan money still available from the U.S. Department of Energy. The downside to that money: it would require the company to produce its vehicles at an aging former GM factory in Delaware. That requirement, the WSJ reported in March, was one reason talks with the potential Chinese buyer fell apart.
Also worth noting as Fisker goes through tough times: this hasn’t been the best week for the company’s board member and investor Ray Lane. On Thursday, he stepped down as chairman of HP, following widespread dissatisfaction among shareholders in the wake of $8.8 billion in writedowns on the company’s botched Autonomy deal. Just a day later, and Fisker is laying off staff and looking in serious trouble.
Fisker, Lane said back in 2011, could eventually be worth as much as game developer Zynga. With Zynga today valued at just under $2.8 billion, that now looks more optimistic than ever.
->Posting last edited on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:46:30.
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