The long-running Fisker Automotive Chapter 11 case in Wilmington appears to be over with an agreement approved for unsecured creditors that include the State of Delaware.
WHYY Newsworks reported the settlement came out to about $16.5 million. The state invested about $20 million in a financial package aimed at Fisker building a mid-sized car at the former GM Boxwood plant near Newport.
The successful bidder was Chinese partsmaker Waxiang, which paid about $150 million for Fisker assets. The bulk of the proceeds from that sale went to a Chinese investor that bought the federal loan for Fisker, but did not outbid Wanxiang for remaining assets.
In the meantime, Wanxiang is working to revive production of Fisker’s sole product, the plug-in hybrid Karma and has plans for a second model that had been slotted for the Boxwood plant, according to Automotive News. The Karma had been assembled in Finland.
The company’s manufacturing site in the U.S. has not yet been determined. Wanxiang took ownership of the former GM plant as part of the sale agreement. Like the previous owner, it plans to bring Karma production to the U.S.
Wanxiang officials have met with public officials including Gov. Jack Markell and have not ruled out building vehicles in the state.
A Fisker executive told the Automotive News that the company faces a long road in getting the Karma back into production.
Pin Ni, who heads U,S. operations for Wanxiang, said the Karma has about 250 “bugs” that need fixing. The Karma is a hybrid that is powered by a massive battery, with a conventional engine used for longer trips.
Wanxiang officials met with public officials including Gov. Jack Markell and have not ruled out building vehicles in the state.
“A team from Wanxiang was in Delaware last week to examine the Boxwood Road facility and met with the Governor, DEDO, and our federal delegation “about the company’s possible use of that facility,” stated Jonathan Dworkin, spokesman for Gov. Jack Markell. ” The Governor appreciated the opportunity to meet with the company’s leadership and express to them personally that Delaware is a great place to do business.”
Wanxiang has been developing battery powered vehicles in China. The company aspires to be a rival to successful U.S. electric vehicle start-up Tesla, which is now working on less expensive models of its successful all electric car. It earlier purchased out of bankruptcy proceedings A123 Systems, the battery supplier ot Fisker.
Unlike Fisker, which suffered from problems with batteries and other components as it slid into bankruptcy proceedings, Tesla’s first vehicle earned high marks from customers and reviewers.
Tesla also plans to build a massive battery plant that could drive down costs of the expensive component.
