This is not Mr Fisker's first venture in the automobile manufacturing business. In 2005 he and Koehler left Aston Martin to establish Fisker Coachbuild, in an attempt to revive the lost art of coachbuilding automobiles to customer specifications. The Fisker Tramanto and Latigo utilized chassis and powertrains from Mercedes-Benz SL and BMW 6-Series automobiles. Several were purchased but the business soon gave way to Fisker Automotive, a true automobile manufacturer.
[edit] Investors
Investors include Palo Alto Investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Qatar Holdings, LLC, A123 Systems and Ace Investments.
In September 2009, Fisker was approved for a $529 million government loan from the United States Department of Energy.[4]
[edit] Europe
Fisker expects more than half its sales to originate in Europe by 2025. The company wants to set up its first overseas importer, Fisker Italia,in Merano, Italy. Trudell, Craig (2008-06-19). "Fisker lands European distributor". Automotive News Europe. Automotive News. http://www.autonews.com/article/20080618/COPY/637752376/-1. Retrieved 2009-10-25. The Emil Frey Group might sign on in the fall of 2015 to sell and service Fisker vehicles in central Europe.
[edit] Outsourcing
The Fisker Karma is noted for the fact that almost everything in the car is outsourced to other companies: components, the electric power train, manufacturing. This results in big cost savings.[2]
The company took the innovative outsourcing approach of Mahindra Scorpio a step further, because even the manufacturing of the car is outsourced.
The Fisker Auto company only designs and promotes the cars. 750 people are developing the Fisker Karma but less than 100 are on Fisker Auto's payroll. A typical car company would have 1000 people working on a new model.[2]
This allows the company to develop a new car in just 2.5 years instead of the typical 5 years and at a cost of $333 million instead of $1 billion.[2]
[edit] Cost savings
The company also saves money by using the same components as other car companies. For example, the door handle mechanism is actually General Motors door handle mechanism, Fisker Automotive just pays a fee to GM for each door handle in the Karma and its much cheaper than designing its own door handles.[5]
[edit] Car components [5]
The 22 kW·h lithium ion rechargeable battery in each car will come from A123 Systems in Watertown, Mass.
The aluminium frame is supplied by Norsk Hydro from Norway.
The cabin interior is designed by Fisker Auto but made in USA by Magna International of Canada.
[edit] Profitability
Due to its outsourcing model, the company claims that it can make a profit from selling just 15,000 cars.[1]
[edit] Manufacturing
On October 27, 2009, Fisker officials announced that the company has signed a letter of intent to take control of the Boxwood Road Plant (previously owned and operated by General Motors) in Wilmington, Delaware. In addition to a purchase price of $18 million, Fisker plans to spend $175 million on the plant by 2012. Vice President Joe Biden attended the announcement.
The company plans to build between 75,000 and 100,000 Fisker NINA (a mass-market plug-in hybrid sedan) by 2014. The factory hopes to create 2000 jobs directly and 1000 more indirectly. Over half are to be exported, the most for any American company.[6]
[edit] Legal dispute with Tesla Motors
On April 14, 2008, Tesla Motors filed a lawsuit against Fisker Automotive, alleging they stole Tesla's technology and are using it to develop their own hybrid car, the Fisker Karma, which was announced at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2008. Tesla's suit claims that the design work done for the Model S by Fisker Coachbuild was substandard, and that Fisker diverted its best ideas to the Karma. [7]
On November 3, 2008, Fisker Automotive issued a press release indicating that an arbitrator has issued an interim award finding in favor of Fisker Automotive, Inc. and against Tesla Motors Inc. on all claims.[8]
[edit] US federal loan
Fisker has received a $528 million loan from U.S. Department of Energy's $25 billion Advanced Technologies Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program.[9] $359 million is in support of Project NINA, to design, engineer and assemble (at the Boxwood Plant in Delaware) Fisker's second-generation sedan. Fisker aims to have the $39,000 sedan for sale starting in 2012 in volumes over 100,000/year.[10]
Fisker Automotive plans to use the remaining $169.3 million for engineering work in Michigan and California to complete the company's first vehicle, the Fisker Karma; to develop manufacturing processes for the Boxwood Plant; and to design the tools and equipment for manufacturing its plug-in hybrids.[11][12]
Source: wikipedia
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