$200M Down the Drain; Fisker May Follow A123 To China

[Dari]

What a fuckin waste of more "green" money. Seriously, somebody high up needs to be fired.

link

Reports by Bloomberg suggest that Fisker could sell up to an 85 percent stake to Chinese automaker Dongfeng. The automaker apparently bid $350 million for the beleaguered plug-in car maker, according to sources close to the company.


With a $200 million Department of Energy loan still outstanding, and a possible cash crunch looming mid-year, Fisker has been looking for a buyer. Company spokesman Roger Ormisher told Bloomberg

“The company has received detailed proposals from multiple parties in different continents, which are now being evaluated by the company and its advisers,”

If Fisker were to be sold to Dongfeng, the possibility exists that production of its vehicles would move from Finland to China, without the ex-GM factory in Delaware having ever produced any cars. Fisker’s battery supplier, A123 Systems, declared bankruptcy in 2012, and was sold to a Chinese firm.

 

[rudder]

The Chinese will be making bank with all this IP they're acquiring. Not only do they get the tech.... They will dump the cheaper end products on the market and put pressure on more companies.

 

[halik]

Well if the chinese company buys it, we get back that $200M. If they fold, not so much...

 

[Dari]

Well if the chinese company buys it, we get back that $200M. If they fold, not so much...

That's assuming if they take on the debt. These guys are ruthless and, considering that the money is owed to the US Government, Fisker Karma may just lower the price $200M from FMV, assuming that isn't already $0.

 

[halik]

That's assuming if they take on the debt. These guys are ruthless and, considering that the money is owed to the US Government, Fisker Karma may just lower the price $200M from FMV, assuming that isn't already $0.

I don't think you know how corporate debt works...

 

[Dari]

I don't think you know how corporate debt works...

I know how it works. But, when you have a government that cares more about votes than money, it may not care about losing $200M so long as the PR comes out right. Look at the thread I started yesterday where $150M was loaned to LG Chem to make a factory that does nothing but pays people (to do nothing). All the government cared about was the facade of the building. The actual batteries going into the Volt are coming from Korea, not Michigan.

 

[OverVolt]

I'm not gonna drive a "Dongfeng" just saying.

 

[Triumph]

I'm not going to drive an electric vehicle. They're nowhere near an appropriate replacement for the IC engine yet. Battery technology needs the equivalent breakthrough of the transistor before it ever becomes viable.