The future of Fisker Automotive’s luxury hybrid vehicle is unclear after DOE suspended its loan guarantee. That affects the fortunes of its vendors, including A123, supplier of the battery packs. Credit: Fisker Automotive.
The short version of the story is that A123 is in something of a scramble mode thanks to the problems with Fisker Automotive’s DOE loan guarantee.
The story first came to light on Feb. 9 when, according to a Forbes report, Wunderlich Securities analyst Theodore O’Neill reduced his rating of A123 stock in reaction to a DOE loan guarantee to Fisker being put in hiatus.
So, what’s up with Fisker Automotive?
Fisker is a California-based start-up company that makes luxury hybrid cars and was started in 2007 by Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler. In 2009 it received a $528 loan guarantee from the DOE, of which it has received $193 million so far, according to an online Reuters article, to support development of its first model, a luxury vehicle dubbed Karma. Also in the works is a sedan called Nina.