Car Throttle

Fisker Automotive has come along way from the original company Fisker Automotive that was first announced in 2007. The current company is an automotive manufacturer with investment from private equity and Department of Energy government loans in the hundreds of millions. The money will go toward production of the Karma extended-range electric vehicle as well as the Project NINA, a low-car built at a former General Motors facility in Delaware. The Karma is the company's first real production car, and its been in the news since its introduction at the North American International Auto Show in 2008. The car has been beset by many delays - originally it was supposed to come in November 2009, then September 2010 and now the start date

We've heard about the much-ballyhooed Fisker Karma for quite some time. Company co-founder and designer Henrik Fisker engineered a remarkable coup with the Karma. He turned his company from a coachbuilding endeavor to a company focused on range-extended electric vehicles. The Karma was the vehicle that enabled that, and it resulted in huge grant from the Department of Energy. Now the Karma's is getting closer to a reality (at least we hope so) and the company has produced this new advertisement. They've done one previously, but this latest spot is much better done (as in, there was more money to spend on it). There's no doubt the Karma is a stunning vehicle. Now let's see it in person! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo5YOZ2saZk&feature=player_embedded

Things have been going pretty well for Fisker lately - like bitter rival Tesla, the company has gotten loan guarantees from the Department of Energy to fund the Karma, and the company's new low-cost car, Project NINA. In addition, Fisker has secured a former General Motors manufacturing facility in Wilmington, Delaware. In comparison, Tesla is still readying an announcement on a production plant for the Model S. In July, a date in mid-2010 for the Karma was announced, but a new date has been set at the Los Angeles International Auto Show that pegs deliveries for the car in the third quarter of 2010. That would be less than 36 months since the car's debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, which is a pretty

News broke just yesterday about the possibility of a Fisker plant at General Motors' Wilmington, Delaware facility where the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters were produced. Now it's official, as the announcement was made today! Fisker executives made the announcement onsite, along with Vice President Joe Biden, Delaware Governor's Jack Markell and other state officials. The plant being reopened is welcome news to the many that lost their jobs in the recent plant closure. Fisker intends to purchase the dormant company from the Motors Liquidation Company (MLC), the part of General Motors that still remains in bankruptcy, for a paltry sum of $18 million. The plant is being purchased for the production Fisker's low-cost Project NINA. The company recently secured a $528.7 million dollar loan from

Things at Fisker Automotive have been progressing very quickly. Just a few years ago Fisker was formed, and began by producing coachbuilt vehicles. The two first cars were the Tramonto and Latigo CS, based on the Mercedes-Benz SL and BMW 6-Series, respectively. Next the company announced the Karma range-extended electric vehicle, which most thought would never get off the ground. Now, Fisker is set to announce the full-scale U.S plant for the production of the low-cost, next-generation Fisker named Project NINA. Interestingly, the plant rumored to be used by Fisker is a former GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware. If you remember, that is the plant where GM produced the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters. This should ensure that Fisker gets into an area where there is

The most recent report about Fisker was right - the company is coming out with a low-cost plug-in hybrid and has received a lon from the Department of Energy to do it. Not only did Fisker get the loan, but the awarded amount is actually larger than Tesla's. What a surprise! Part of that has to do with the fact that Tesla's first vehicle, the Roadster, is already out and developed. That enabled the entirety of Tesla's request to go towards the design and development of the Model S. Fisker's loan totals $528.7 million and is intended for two model lines. The first part is $169.3 million for "engineering integration costs" on the Karma. The second stage is a $359.36 million loan for the development of

Companies specializing in alternative fuels are hitting some good times as of late, even in spite of the relatively low fuel prices. Bitter rival Tesla has taken a lot of new orders for the Model S, gotten a Department of Energy loan guarantee to produce it, and has hit profitability for the first time. Fisker on the other hand, has taken a different tack, forging ahead with it's Karma range-extended vehicle. It still has similar goals though to produce low-cost vehicle, and has applied for a Department of Energy loan to meet that. Henrik Fisker, Fisker's founder and namesake, has spoken a lot about his desire to produce one. Could we be near an announcement? We already know that Tesla has a model in the works that is

There has been a lot of hubbub over GM's much-trumpeted 230 miles per gallon figure on the range-extended Chevrolet Volt. The back and forth on whether or not that is a correct number (GM says the EPA cycle will result in that rating) has been intense. Now its Fisker's turn to make a splash, announcing the MPG rating for the Karma. In Fisker's announced figures, they are using results from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) methedology for measuring plug-in hybrids. Speaking of which, Fisker still continues to call the Karma a plug-in hybrid when really it's a range-extended electric vehicle. Anyways, the Karma will achieve 3.5L/100km (or 67.2 mpg U.S) and CO2 emissions of 83 grams per kilometer. Fisker says that "941 million liters (248 million gallons)

I love to see people accomplish their dreams - and it looks like Fisker is doing just that. Henrik Fisker and his company is continuing to move forward on schedule with the launch of the Karma range-extended electric-vehicle. If all goes to plan, the Karma will be the first luxury vehicle of it's kind on the road. Other than in Fisker's commercial that displayed the Karma in motion, we've yet to see the car driving on the road. It looks like that is about to change though. How? Well a lot of automotive events are going on in Monterey, California next month. One of those is the Historic Automobile Races in California. The races are part of the car themed Monterey Weekend, where 3 car events are

The ink is hardly dry on the announcement for Fisker's new range-extended electric vehicle, the Karma and yet the company head Henrik Fisker is already talking about a successor. The company has come such a long way since its original inception. Originally the company sold coach built vehicles like the Tramonto and Latigo CS. The Tramonto was based on the Mercedes-Benz SL and the Latigo CS on the BMW 6-Series. Smartly, the company used those models to produce a profit that would help investors kick down the cash to develop dedicated vehicles like the Karma.   Henry Fisker's dream is being realized! Like Tesla, the company has applied for Department of Energy loan guarantees. Fisker hopes to use that money to develop a new low cost model, using the same