With technical problems, management turmoil and mounting losses, Fisker Automotive offers a cautionary tale of alternative-fuel vehicles and government subsidies for start-up businesses, Bill Vlasic reports in The New York Times.
Fisker?s employees have been laid off or put on furlough without pay. Production of its sleek plug-in hybrid car, the Karma, ended months ago. It is veering on the edge of bankruptcy, without a buyer in sight.
No electric vehicle initiative supported by Washington seems more of a debacle than Fisker, which was granted a $529 million federal loan in 2009 to advance the cause of electric cars. Two years later, after Fisker repeatedly missed production targets and other deadlines, the Energy Department suspended the loans.
The all-but-closed company skipped a large loan payment that was due on Monday, leading the federal government to take the unusually aggressive step of seizing $21 million from the company?s cash reserves to begin recouping the $192 million in taxpayer dollars spent on the company?s flawed strategy.
The company?s messy demise will fall under the glaring spotlight of a Congressional hearing on Wednesday that is titled ?Examining the Department of Energy?s Bad Bet on Fisker Automotive.? Some of Fisker?s top executives involved in the Karma?s development are expected to testify, as well as agency officials involved in the loan program.
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